






" .,.')',' 









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THE 



COTTAGES OF THE ALPS ; 



OR, 



ITife anir ^aimm in ^toitorkit^. 



BY THE AUTHOR OF "PEASANT LIFE IN GERMANY." 




NEW YORK: 
CHARLES SCRIBKER, 124 GRAND STREET. 

MDCCOLX. """ 



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(^cy^' &yf%c^ 



1^ 



Entebed according to Act of Congresa, in the year 1860, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. 



W. H. TissoN, Stereotype!-. Geo. Russell & Co., Priuters. 



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TO 

MADAM DORA D'ISTRIA, 

"QtUs Vdnmt is 3nsmhtiJ, 

IN 

TESTIMONY OF THE FRIENDSHIP 
o» 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE 



While the independence of Switzerland, so often as- 
sailed, yet so long providentially maintained, appears to be 
again threatened by the advances of a powerful neighbour, 
it is hoped that a picture of the social and political life of the 
Swiss people, from recent personal observation, may not be 
unacceptable to the English people who have evinced so 
warm an interest in the events now passing in Southern 
Europe. 

The name upon our dedicatory page may not be familiar 
to our readers ; and as we have placed it there for the pur- 
pose of making known to them the life and works of a wo- 
man who is becoming a bright and shining light amid the 
darkness of Eastern despotism, it is due that we say a few 
words to prove her title to the slight tribute we thus pay 
her, and her claim to the attention of the Enghsh public* 

She is an Eastern princess of the ancient and noble family 
of Ghika. Her ancestors originated in Macedonia, and 
emigrated centuries ago to WaUachia, where since 1658 
they have been the family from which the Hospodars have 
been mainly elected, under the Ottoman rule, and charac- 
terised always by bravery, intrepidity, and love of liberty. 

WaUachia is one of the Danubian principalities which 

* This work was first published in London, by Messrs. Sampson Low, Son & Co., 
47 Ludgate Hill. 

V 



VI PEEFACE. 

have been so long the object of strife between Russia, 
Austria, and Turkey; and the Ghikas are the indomitable 
native princes who have resisted them, and rebelled against 
their tyranny, unto death. 

After the first Russian occupation, Gregory Ghika the 
Seventh was the restorer of the throne of WaUachia, and 
the resuscitator of their beloved Roumanic language and 
literature. He instituted many reforms, relieved the country 
of a debt which had weighed upon it for a century, and 
formed a plan of national education. But neither Russia 
nor Austria .wished to see the Roumaini revive in their native 
strength and glory, and contrived to plunge them anew into 
misfortunes. 

From 1828 to 1834 the throne of Bukarest was vacant, 
and since that period only once have they been ruled by a 
native prince. This was Alexander Ghika, brother of Gre- 
gory, equally noble and equally unfortunate. This brings 
us to the princess of our story, Helena Ghika, the niece of 
these two princes, and daughter of Michael Ghika, a long 
time " Minister of the Interior " to his brother. She was 
born on the 22d of January, 1829, and during all her life in 
the East saw her country struggling, resisting, and con- 
quered but never subdued. Before the revolution of 1842 
her father had removed his family to Dresden to complete 
their education, and her cousin, Alexander Gregory Ghika, 
has, in these latter days, commenced the struggle anew to 
throw off the foreign yoke. One of her books is entitled 
the " Heroes of Roumaini ;" and those who are familiar 
with the history of her country wUl understand her enthu- 
fiiasm for liberty, and love of her people. 

But it is owing to the resolution of her father that she 



PKEFACE. Vll 

should not be nurtured in the supineness which characterises 
the lives of Eastern ladies, that she received an education 
which would be considered masculine even in England and 
America. In her childhood she had an English honne^ and 
at seven years of age was placed under the tutorship of the 
renowned Professor Papadopulos, who not only taught her 
the rich languages of the East, Greek, Latin, and French, 
but imbued her with the spirit of the ancient philosophers 
and heroes, and initiated her into all the learning of the 
schools. 

Her father said, " All the progress of later years in lit- 
erature was owing to the blending of masculine intelligence 
and vigour with a proper development of feminine tact 
and perception. These are continually reacting on each 
other, so that every new subject is handled with a profound 
investigation and artistic detail, which leave no room for 
fallacy. Uneducated women in any country are the dupes 
of intriguers and the strongest enemies of progress, 
whether in Church or State ; and in every country those 
who oppose their elevation, by the use of the cant of 
" woman's rights " and " woman's sphere," and other terms 
of scorn and ridicule, know very well that while they can be 
kept floating in saloons, insipid and thoughtless, society will 
remain coriTipt, and the pillars of freedom be continually 
tottering." 

"We commend these sentiments of an Eastern prince to 
the consideration of some of our fellow-countrymen ; and we 
have not forgotten once hearing an American lady in a 
saloon express the utmost contempt for another, whom she 
had been invited to meet, and yet to whom she refused to 
be introduced, because she despised a woman who made 



Vlll PEEFACE. 

literature her study, and was an authoress ! — or another, who 
said, " A woman who became public in any way was only 
worthy of contempt." To such ladies we need not present 
the subject of our story. They will despise her for having 
voluntarily renounced the " life of saloons," as she herself 
expresses it, to devote herself to literature and the elFort 
by her pen to do something for the freedom of her beloved 
country. It will be useless for us to say to such paragons, 
how beautiful is her daily life, how spotless her character, 
how noble her enthusiasm, and "how severe her labour — she 
is by these very virtues public, and her name becoming 
familiar in every tongue. 

Her father not only insisted that she should be tho- 
roughly disciplined in mind, but in body ; and among vari- 
ous other exercises, she Avas taught to swim, and became so 
expert that in late years she saved the life of a lady in her 
family, the instructress of her sister, who fell into the water 
when no one was near to save her but herself. Music and 
painting were not neglected, nor an acquaintance with 
general literature. She speaks and writes Russian, German, 
Italian, French, and English ; and at an exhibition of fine 
arts in St. Petersburg, obtained the prize for two of her 
paintings. Her invocations of the Muses have not been 
less successful ; and that she is the only person who has 
ascended the Monch^ one of the highest mountains in 
Switzerland, proves that these graces are not incompatible 
with energy and heroism. 

At the age of twenty years she was married to a Russian 
prince, Koltzoff Massalsky, a descendant of the old Vikings 
of Moldavia, who entered Russia in the days of Vladimir 
in 988, and have never been especially popular with the 



PKEFACE. IX 

reigning dynasty. She resided six years at the Russian 
Court, during which time her health failed, and the influ- 
ence of a northern climate threatened to sink her into an 
early grave. Physicians said she must leave or die. The 
invasion of Wallachia by Russia in 1853 seemed to her a 
crime, against which she ventured a remonstrance.* This 
made her unpopular, and her passports were freely given to 
exile herself in whatever land she chose. She had no children 
to link her to the land of her adoption, and she went forth 
to wander, at least till her health should be restored, and it 
may be for ever, unless oppression should cease, and the 
peace which can only be the consequence of justice on the 
part of the stranger, should be restored between the Em- 
pire and the dependent province. 

We heard of her everywhere in Switzerland as the quiet, 
unassuming lady, benevolent to the poor and kindly to 
all, acting the part of godmother to a peasant's child in a 
cottage, the beloved of children, sympathizmg with all 
sorrow, and yet living entirely apart from the gay world. 
The first months of her exile were spent in Ostend, in 1855, 
and there she published her first book, " Monastic Life," 
which appeared at Brussels. The next year she resided in 
Canton Tessino, to enjoy the delicious climate on the borders 
of Lago Maggiore. In quick succession since this period 
have appeared the volumes entitled severally, German, 
French, and Italian Switzerland — books which fill a void in 
literature that, we cannot understand why, has been left so 
long unfilled. But we are consoled with the thought that 



* The old Russian partj would have preferred to send her to Siberia with two other 
noble ladies whose crimes were the same, and who are now exiles among the eternal 
snows, but for some reason the Emperor did not comply with their demands. 



X PREFACE. 

no one could have done it better, and it may be well that 
the task was left to her. Those who would know the his- 
tory, the heroes, the authors, the reformers, and philanthro- 
pists of Switzerland, can find them portrayed nowhere else 
in their true light, indeed, nowhere else at all except in their 
own chronicles. 

It struck us as a curious coincidence that a lady should 
have come from the far east, and another from the far west, 
to meet in the little republic with the same object, the 
same opinions, and the same enthusiastic love of liberty, 
one being born subject of a despot and the other of a free 
government. We did not succeed in obtaining her books 
till our own was finished, and when we first heard of them 
feared we might be upon common ground and one pen 
rendering the other unnecessary. But we foimd, without 
knowing it, that we began just where she had left off, and 
the end of her books and the beginning of ours could not 
have been better fitted together had it been done by design. 
Hers are of the past and ours of the present, and Switzer- 
land must be viewed in both these relations in order to be 
understood. There are striking resemblances in thought, 
in facts, and in expression even, but which can only be the 
result of similarity of views, as we had no knowledge of 
each other in any way till the works of both were finished. 

In her preface to this work she says, " I have travelled 
through great kingdoms without finding anything to make 
a noble feeling. There we see only such victories as spirit- 
ual tyranny or worldly despotism can exercise over the 
healthy imderstandings of men ; but you, fruitful plains of 
Thurgovie, peaceful valleys of St. Gall, renowned mountains 
of Appenzell, how different the feelings which you caJl up ! 



PKEFACE. XI 

You walk with a fearless step and lift an independent brow 
to heaven, while the people of the great nations around you 
still bow their necks to the yoke. You are a free people, 
and the banner on which gUtters the federal star can with 
just pride wave near the Lion of free, happy England, and 
the star-spangled banner of unconquerable America." 

For these principles she and her books are interdicted in 
Austria and in Russia, though they come freely into France 
and Belgium, and also are allowed in Germany. The 
reviews and journals of the different countries notice her 
according to their ideas of Hberty; her genius and her 
talent are never gainsaid.* She forbade us to name her 
titles in our dedication, and though we have given them 
here in order to explain her life, we forget them always in 
our intercourse with her, for it is the woman only that we 
know. She has won for herself a title more noble than ac- 
cident bestowed upon her, hke England's noble queen, who 
immortalises the throne instead of allowing the throne to 
immortalise her. 

We have written of the people of Switzerland as we did 
of those of Germany, but we cannot say we have described 
the "peasant life," because there is, legitimately speaking, 
no such thing in Smtzerland. According to the 4th article 
of their constitution, " All Swiss are equal before the law. 
There are in Switzerland no subjects; none who enjoy privi- 
leges on account of birth, person, or family." Every peasant 
may look forward to the highest honours in the gift of the 



* Besides contributing to journals in Paris, Athens, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, 
she has written in these last six years, " The Women of the East ;" " The Ionian Isles," 
under the rule of Venice and British protection ; " Nationality of Roumanie ;" " The 
Orientals and the Papacy," &c., &c., which, our readers will see, leaves her little time 
for saloons. 



Xll PREFACE. 

republic, if he will make himself worthy of them, and it is 
the occurrence of every day that the upper ranks are filled 
by accessions from the lower. 

In Germany the mercantile class and mechanics are as far 
below the nobility as the peasantry are, and their life and 
occupations come as legitimately within our sphere. 

In Switzerland the president and council, the senate 
and deputies, are also a part of the people, and thus is 
given us a still wider range, without departing from our 
subject. 

Here the mountains are the castles, and nature constructs 
all the palaces. In the cities there is nothing princely, and 
nothing feudal except the ruins ; we shall therefore indulge 
ourselves in saying whatever we think is new and interest- 
ing, whether of high or low. But though a greater expe- 
rience and additional language have increased our facilities 
for observation and study, we do not here, any more than 
there, confine ourselves to what we can learn by personal 
efibrt. What others, with larger acquaintance and better 
opportunities, have learned, may be more valuable than any- 
thing w^e may collect ourselves, w^hatever may be our fitness 
or capacity. Of the reliability of these sources, we, of 
course, must be the judge. We cannot enlarge our book 
to unwieldy dimensions, or mar our pages with " authori- 
ties " and " statistical proofs," which not ten persons among 
those for whom we write would take the trouble to examine 
or care to know. 

We are influenced by the " spirit of truth," and have no 
cause of malice or unkindness towards the country we have 
left, or the one in which we are. 

We could transcribe many letters, written voluntarily by 



PKEFACE. XIU 

German friends, assuring us that our representations have 
not even the fault of exaggeration. 

But we have since heard that many things are not Ger- 
man merely, but continental. In Switzerland we have re- 
lied wholly upon the people and their own chronicles. The 
Swiss are all chronicler s.^ and remarkably faithful in writing 
of themselves. We have found them always ready to open 
their stores for our researches, and never manifesting any 
fear of our pen. 

"We are particularly indebted to Dr. Prof. Osenbrugg, of 
Zurich University, for a series of observations made by him- 
self in various tours in Switzerland to see the country and 
to write about the people. The descriptions of prisons, 
court trials, and various facts in jurisprudence, were fur- 
nished us by him, and we are only sorry that we cannot do 
justice to the original, in which law and poetry are blended 
in an unusually happy manner. Dr. Oesterler, of the same 
city, and the librarian of the Biblioteke, were invaluable 
assistants in our studies. 

The "American Minister Resident," at Berne, furnished 
us cordially with introductions and special passports, to en- 
able us to travel with profit and pleasure, and we are espe- 
cially indebted to the fii-m of "Dalp & Co." for any courtesy 
to facilitate us in our work. 

Whether we travelled alone, or in what sort of company, 
we do not this time inform the public, as it does not essen- 
tially concern them, and we will not subject others to the 
reproach of the evil-minded and vulgar, but may say it is 
no such marvellous thing in these days to travel in any tole- 
rably civilized country. There is sufficient law and sufficient 
honour among men for the protection of all who need it, and 



XIV PKEFACE. 

it may be something to the credit of Germans and Swiss 
that we have never, in a single instance, during three years 
among them, required more than our own dignity could 
furnish, and now, as before, can say we have had no expe- 
rience that has caused us to regret having come among 
them. 

In both books we have only aimed at giving a good 
general idea of the people, l^ames and dates, localities and 
masses of details, only clog the memory, and answer no 
useful purpose in a book like this. Specialties may be in- 
teresting to those who have travelled extensively, but to 
those who cannot identify each event and scene with the 
spot where it occurred, by personal observation, it is only 
tedious to attempt it. Geographies and guide-books are 
made especially for those who would trace heights and dis- 
tances with exactness, and there are plenty of authors with 
a different plan to fill the chasms we have left. 

That the portraits of life and manners are faithful, we 
know, and we have been gratified in reading the letters of 
two German travellers, editors of a St. Louis journal, who 
had been twenty-five years in America, and returned to the 
fatherland to receive the same impressions as a stranger, 
from the lack of progress, and the sluggishness of all enter- 
prise, where despots rule, and the comparative sluggishness 
of every thiiig in the old, time-honored world. 

That our suggestions will be of any use we cannot have 
the vanity to hope, but there is just now a general awaken- 
ing throughout the Continent that bids fair to result in pro- 
moting the interest of the governed. The day of blind 
obedience is past, and a tremulous fear has seized the sove- 
reigns of every state, that unless they rule more wisely and 



PBEFAOE. XV 



beneficently, they will soon cease to rule at all. Whether 
it be kingdom, or empire, or republic, we care not, provided 
Justice and Mercy sit on the throne and walk hand-in-hand 
among the people. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

First Impressions — ^People, past and present — Cars and Diligences — 
Berne and its Bears — ^Prisoners — ^Federal Palace — Promenades 
— ^Mountains, 21 

CHAPTER II. 

TTRI. 

Travellers at Fluelen — Description of Villages — Houses — Elections 

— Griitli — Costumes — Calamities, 33 

CHAPTER III. 

SCHWTTZ. 

Origin of People — Brunnen — Diligence — Hotels — Costumes — Im- 
provements — Einsiedeln — Pilgrims — Legends, . . . .48 

•CHAPTER IV. 

TJNTERWALD. 

Alpine Pastures — Sennhutten — Cheese-making — Cows and their Bells 

— Alpine Festivals — Agriculture — Fetes, . . . . .63 

CHAPTER V. 

LUCERNE. 

Ancient Laws and Customs — City of Lucerne — Social Life— Ascent 

of the Righi — Ancient Procession — Weddings, . . . . 78 



XVlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VL 

ZUG. PAGE 

Pleasant Custom — Churchyard — First Battle for Freedom — Home 

Sickness of Swiss Soldiers — ^Witchcraft — Forms of Punishment, 93 

CHAPTER YII. 

TALAIS. 

Crossing the Furka — Rhone Glacier — Inn — Manufactures and Agri- 
culture — Love of Liberty — Cretinism, 104 

CHAPTER VIIL 

VAUD. 

Cheese Societies — Union Dairies — Wine-presses — Blacksmiths' Shops 

— Lace-making — Vintage Festival of Vevay — Shepherd Songs, . 119 

CHAPTER IX. 

GENEVA. 

Calvin — Jews — Lake Leman — Watch-making — Social Life— Swim- 
ming Schools for Girls, 138 

CHAPTER X. 

FRIBTTRG. 

ruyere Cheese — Gessenay Shepherds — Cheese Aristocracy — Swiss 
Song— Influence of Amusements — Legends, .... 152 

CHAPTER XL 

NEUCHATEL. 

^ueen Bertha — Trouble with Prussia — Military System — ^Watch- 



m 



aking — Language, 16G 



CHAPTER XII. 

SOLEURE. 

Patricians — Material Interest— Journalism — Old Laws — Houses- 
First Agricultural Societies — Costumes, . . . . 180 



CONTENTS. XIX 

CHAPTER XIII. 

ZURICH. PAGH 

Modern City — Old Laws — Silk Manufacture — Happy Homes — Frogs 

and Snails — Great Shooting Festival, 192 

CHAPTER XIV. 

SCHAFFHAUSEN. 

Old City— Pride and Exclusiveuess — Jews — Costume — Rhinefall — 

Distinguished Men, 216 

CHAPTER XV. 

BASLE. 

Social Life — Opinions of Old Authors — Revolutions — Jews — Rob- ' 
bers — Looms— Celebrated Men, 229 

CHAPTER XVI. 

ST. GALL. 

Money-making — ^Vices of Material Life — Embroideries — Swiss Mus- 
lins—Cherry Water— City Life, 244 

CHAPTER XVIL 

APPENZELL. 

Spirit of Liberty — Murder by a Young Girl — Stickstube — Costume — 

Alps — Amusements, 257 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

GLARUS. 

^cene in Street— Old Families — Zwinglius — Brotherhood — Schabzie- 
ger Cheese — Alpine Tea — Calico — Incident on Railway — Elec- 
tions — Superstitions — Old Laws and Customs, . . . . 2*75 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THURGOVIE. 

Talk in a Diligence — Co-achman's Livery — Thurgovian Village — 
Post OflSce— Napoleon in Thurgovie— Custom-house — Schools — 
Weddings, 298 



XX CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XX. 

GRAUBUNDEN. PAGB 

Spliigen — Via Mala — Grey League — Vale of Disentis — Italian Shep- 
herd — Castasagna Chestnuts — Alpine Fete — Kiltgang — Enga- 
dine — Dances, 312 

CHAPTER XXI. 

ARGOVIE. 

Roman City — Convents — Quarrels — Jews — Dark Days of Old — 
Schools — Three Cantonal Divisions — Homeless People — Peasant 
Dinner Festivals, 340 

CHAPTER XXII. 

TESSINO. 

talian Skies — Governments — Clergy — Education — Church Bells — 
Peasant Houses — Costumes — Fairs — Mines — Agricultural Fete 
Days — Marriages — Distinguished Men, 853 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

BERNE. 

/ \ Interlaken — ^Empress-Mother of Russia — Sunris e fro m the Grimsel — 
Story of Peter Zeibach — Old Customs — Bernese Boys — Fellen- 
berg — Country Life, 368 

dHAPTER XXIV. 

CONCLUSION. 

Attachment of the People to their Government — ^Federal Assembly 
— Council of State — Federal Council — Tribunal— Constitution — 
Officials— Postage — Nationality, 889 

Appendix, 403 




THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 



CHAPTER I. 

FIRST niPBESSIONS — ^PEOPLE, PAST AND PRESENT — CARS AND DILIGENCES- 
BERNE AND ITS BEARS — PRISONERS — FEDERAL PALACE — ^PROMENADES — ^MOUN- 
TAINS. 

We entered Switzerland by its nortliern gate ; and as our 
German Guide-book says, "we have only crossed the border 
before we find ourselves in a different land, and among a diffe- 
rent people," it will be thought no sin for us to say the same. 

We did not read the Guide-book till long after we had made 
our observations, but our philosophy was instantly awake, 
wondering why those who had the same origin, and have spoken 
always the same language, should be found in paths diverging 
so widely in the journey through life. 

We had thought that German Switzerland must be very 
much Uke Germany; but even the general features, as we glance 
superficially, offer scarcely any points of resemblance — ^in which 
remark we allude only to the people, their manners and cus- 
toms ; for now, as before, to these we are obliged to confine our- 
selves. The mountains, however grand, and the valleys, how- 
ever lovely, must be passed by in silence ; not because our eyes 
do not behold them, or our mind does not appreciate them, but 

21 



22 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

because our "instructions" forbid us to dally among things 
beautiful, or our fancy to revel among things luxurious. 

We wish to know what kind of people inhabit this wonderful 
land ; and among the thousands — aye, hundreds of thousands — 
who have crossed its glaciers, and gone wild in its gorges, how 
few have thought it worth while to devote a page to the daily 
life of the shepherd and rover, though the imagination has woven 
a thousand tales of a people who do not really exist. 

Yet the exclamations of surprise and discouragement are even 
more abundant when we say we are bound for Switzerland, than 
when our destiny was Germany. An " exhausted subject," says 
one. *' Switzerland has been written to death," says another. 
" The people ! Indeed, if you are to give us a book about the 
people, it will be more stupid still. They are no longer what 
they were in the days of chivalry and romance, but have degene- 
rated into mercenary speculatists and plodding tillers of the soil. 
From being the most interesting, they have become the most 
humdrum of human beings." 

To this we could answer nothing when on our way, because 
we knew nothing ; and now shall leave our readers to prove 
whether those judge rightly who think a wilderness more plea- 
sant to the eye than a fruitful field, and cottages smiling in the 
midst of plenty less idylish than the rude hut of the mountain. 

Because they no longer wear the kilt and wield the sabre, it 
is not necessarily true that they have not inherited the proud 
spirit of their fathers ; and songs of peace may indicate hearts 
as noble as the fierce war-whoop or the gay tambour. 

This charge of degeneracy is something we hear so often, that 
we hope to prove its fallacy. The decision concerning the 
American Indian has been, that he could not be civilized ; that 
he preferred the tomahawk and scalping-knife. the wigwam and 



FIEST IMPRESSIONS. 23 

the skins of beasts, to the arts and comforts of Christian peo- 
ple. Yet had whole nations of Indians voluntarily followed 
the plough and sowed the field, or in the course of centuries 
yielded to the subduing power of progress and settled in ham- 
lets and in ''white cottages with green blinds" — preferring cities 
and the hum of factories, what would have been said of them 
then ? Exactly what people say of the descendants of Tell and 
the brave men who defended with him their birthright. 

That foes without and traitors within, so long obliged them to 
wear the warrior's garb, and to be ever on the watch for those 
who left no defile of their mountains free from the tramp of 
conquering hosts, and allowed no valley to escape the ravages 
of the ruthless destroyer, has been the reason they have not 
taken a higher stand among the nations, and that their federal 
escutcheon has not earlier become a bright and shining light, 
shedding its beams over a continent. It is scarcely ten years 
since they were permitted to lay aside their armour. They have 
been the prey of every emperor, prince, and potentate from pole 
to pole and sea to sea ;* and to us it is ever marvellous, that in 
the days when their land was indeed a wilderness, and the most 
fruitful field almost a desert, they were able to march triumphant 
through disciplined legions, thronging from every point of the 
compass to defend their liberties and preserve their rights, 
remaining always a peculiar people, which no power could crush 
and no corruption entirely destroy. They have lived and fought 
till the nations are weary and give up the strife. They have at 
length agreed to let them alone, and, though the fact is but Uttle 
known beyond their limits, it is yet true, that their present 
Government exhibits not less the wisdom which proves the 

♦ In this general assertion, England is not included ; and we migiit as well add, that 
in all cases where the term European is used, we refer only to Continental people. 



24 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

superiority of their statesmen and legislators, than their success 
in battle proved the courage of their warriors and the skill of 
their generals. 

Switzerland is the object of the envy, and malice, and vitupe- 
ration of the despotisms which surround her. It is the policy, 
and it is the practice, of princes and their courtiers, to cause to 
be published contmually the most slanderous falsehoods con- 
cerning the little republic, its government, its laws, and its 
people.* 

Yet, in the heart of Europe, bounded on every side by em- 
pires and kingdoms, trying to annihilate them by force or seduce 
them by bribery, with emissaries, either open or disguised, for 
centuries throwing confusion into their councils, endeavouring to 
bhnd or corrupt them, they have survived and retained enough 
of strength and right principle to form a government, which, if 
not perfect, is in advance of most, and, in some respects, superior 
to all. God grant that no blow from without, and the wiles of 
no serpent within, may again endanger its foundations. 

We came first upon Swiss soil in Basel, but cannot stop here 
to tell its glories — the grand old city that was the seat of coun- 
cils, and entertained whole retinues of popes, and bishops, and 
cardinals, emperors, kings, and princes, with wise men from the 
East, long before America had a name. We will come again 
and assign it due place and importance among its sisters of the 
Confederacy. We must first give a few general impressions as we 
pass along. 

It had been told us that the Swiss post allowed just forty 
pounds of baggage, and we therefore took just forty pounds, in 

* We find this asserted by a German author, Dr. Kolb, of Speyer, who has lately pub- 
lished in Zurich a •work on the political condition of Switzerland, including its financial, 
military, and commercial relations. 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 25 

order to avoid all trouble of weights and measures, which we 
thus succeeded in doing, except on railways, where they allow 
none. But so much baggage every person may have without 
fear of the merciless Custom-house inspector ; and when it was 
set down on the platform in Basel dejiot, a man placed his hand 
respectfully upon it, and asked, " What have you in this ?" 
" The usual articles of a lady's wardrobe/' *' IN'othing else ?" 
" Nothing." Upon which he respectfully bowed and departed. 
This is a pleasant beginning, and puts us in good humour, for 
nothing yet ever put us so thoroughly out, as to see our dresses 
and muslins, on which the laundress had left her best impression, 
overturned and crumpled by the rude assaults of an employe. 
Nothing ever obliterates so entirely every trace of more than one 
Christian virtue from our bosom as this barbarous infringement 
of the most sacred of human rights. That a lady cannot carry 
a comb and brush, and morning-dress, a few 

" Pills, powders, patches, billet-doux," 

without having them submitted to the scrutiny of some solemn 
man of ofiice, is indeed an evidence in any country that civiliza- 
tion has not done its perfect work. We are at last where one 
may have a little sanctum which profane eyes and hands cannot 
invade, and we must experience some very serious wrong to blot 
out the influence of this one incident on entering a strange land. 
So much for " first impressions " and " httle things." 

We are struck not the less pleasantly with these cars, con- 
structed after the American model, with rows of seats on each 
side of a long carriage, the cushions of grey cloth, and the wood 
painted " curly-maple," all neat as wax. Here is a Mttle room 
for first-dass passengers at the end, also hke those in every 

2 



20 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

American railway carriage, but here an extra price is demanded 
for those who occupy them. Not opening at the side, they are 
the thoroughfare through which every one must pass to reach 
places of lower rank, and offer therefore no privacy and no 
special advantage. But in a country so thronged with travellers 
of high and low degree, it would cause great complaint not to 
have some place set apart to give a nominal distinction and 
importance to those who claim to be of a superior order. We 
took a seat once among those exclusives, and found it the most 
uncomfortable we ever had in a railway carriage. It was a hot, 
dusty day, and the crowd was overwhelming. The room being 
small, one has continually the unpleasant sensation of short rapid 
drafts from constantly opened doors and always open windows. 
Two or three persons who could not find seats in the second class, 
took them without scruple in the first, the conductor making no 
objections and exacting no more money for the privilege. Those 
who had paid the extra price were thus incommoded, and had 
only the consolation of saying and exhibiting that they were 
first-class passengers, which we have often noticed was sufficient 
for some people, whatever the annoyance they might expe- 
rience. 

What a difference, too, in the officials, as they perform their 
several duties. Here is not the solemn look and heavy step of 
one who says in every motion: I am an officer of the Emperor 
or King, or Grand Duke, as may be, with a cumber- 
some uniform to substantiate the assertion, all which made 
them, though uniformly courteous, as uniformly terrible. The 
first of this class whom we notice, answers to our idea of one 
who in boyhood sang Swiss songs on the mountains. We ask 
him a question for no other purpose than to see if his manners 
will correspond with his round red cheeks and merry black eyes. 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 27 

Oh, yes; lie has no idea that he is of any particular consequence, 
only that he takes all the tickets and keeps the accounts cor- 
rectly. Now and then, as we pass through the villages, a nice 
looking peasant woman takes her seat by our side, and an ever 
varying costume is presented to our eyes, and also a respectable 
and self-respecting deportment, evidently the result of a con- 
sciousness that they are no man's servants. A German profes- 
sor remarks that you see the same in the animals ; the cows 
hold up their heads and look around with an air that shows 
their appreciation also of free atmosphere. Their heads are not 
oppressed with a yoke when they are in harness, but the burden 
comes upon their shoulders. That this is in any way the con- 
sequence of free institutions, we do not intend to imply ; or that 
cows wear a yoke upon their heads in Germany, because they 
live under the government of a grand-duke ; yet we could not 
help wondering how it should happen, that on one side of a 
small river it should be the custom for the animals to draw all 
weights in this way, and that on the other side of the same 
river, a few miles further south, they should be treated in an 
entirely different manner. We cannot stop here to speculate 
upon the matter, and pass on till we arrive at the capital of this 
famous republic, the seat of the Federal Government, the rally- 
ing point of the twenty-two independent States. 

It strikes us as a pleasant city, with its quaint streets, built in 
arcades, its curious old towers, its ramparts converted into 
promenades, and its many new streets and buildings, sufficiently 
modern for beauty and comfort, without making a repulsive con- 
trast with what is old. There is something about it which 
gives it an identity; with the individual features which every 
city must have, as a whole, it is unlike every other. 

Its name of Berne was originally Bdren, in German signifying 



28 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

bears; and from the reason, say the chronicles, that Berthold 
Y., Duke of Zaeringen, its founder, slew on the spot one of these 
animals, and caused the first houses to be built of the oaks of 
the forest which then clothed the ground. This was in 1191. 
Whether history or legend, it is rooted very strongly in the 
faith of the people, and they have ever awarded peculiar honours 
to their redoubtable namesakes. On their municipal escutcheon 
the prhicipal figure is a bear. High on each side of one of the 
principal gates are crouched two of these huge creatures cut in 
granite, with attitude and expression to make one realize all their 
fierceness ; yet, grim though they are, one would not like to 
miss their famiUar faces. In various other positions, on towers 
and pedestals, they are placed conspicuous ; but more interesting 
still are the living ones, which have appropriated to their use 
spacious apartments in the most aristocratic quarters of the 
city. For many centuries, if not from the foundation of the 
walls, the people have entertained a certain number ; and when 
in 1833 the race became extinct, new specimens were imported 
from Paris and St. Petersburg, and the last year two were born 
unto them, which was occasion for great rejoicing. Their sleep- 
ing rooms are caves in the side of a hill, walled and well car- 
peted with straw; their promenade and reception room, a deep 
square pit with walls and floor of granite, and bath rooms to 
correspond. The legacy of a wealthy citizen has secured them 
independence, and if they have any appreciation of the regard 
and admiration of their fellow-burghers, they must feel very rich. 
How many of my readers know that the town of Newbern, 
in North Carolina, was settled by a colony from this old city of 
bears, two hundred havmg emigrated thither in 1110, under 
Christopher Graffenried ? but whether they transplanted a 
menagerie we do not know. 



FIRST IMPEESSIONS. 29 

We walk through the streets and meet a procession of strange, 
coarse-looking men in uniform, and learn that they are criminals, 
who, instead of being locked in dungeons, are made to toil. We 
have read that not fifty years ago they were marched through 
the streets in chains, to be the scorn of the populace. How 
great an improvement has taken place in their condition I Those 
who perform agricultural labour are accompanied to the field by 
a man, who carries a gun and sword. They are not allowed to 
speak to each other, and no one is allowed to speak to them. In 
the prison itself are workshops of every description, and each one 
is permitted to pursue the trade to which he has been accustomed, 
or to learn any he may choose, if he has none. If, in this way, 
one earns more than the expense of supporting him in the prison, 
half the sum is laid aside and given him when his term expires, so 
that many on leaving have no insignificant fund to enable them 
to commence some honourable calling in the world. Farmers in 
the neighbourhood often employ them as day labourers, paying 
them stipulated wages. We see them also employed in various 
occupations about the city, accompanied by an overseer, and in 
the coarse striped dress that makes it easy to identify them. 

The prison discipline is thoroughly Christian and reformatory, 
and the institution so nearly self-supporting, that the average 
cost of each person does not exceed thirty-five dollars a year. 
Among those who think the old times better than the new, we 
certainly should not find the thieves and robbers of this estab- 
lishment, to which the whole canton furnishes some five or six 
hundred. We cannot conceive how a prison can be conducted 
on better principles or come any nearer to perfection in its ar- 
rangements. We notice it particularly, as in some of the other 
cantons we are able to contrast the present with the past, in 
reference to the treatment of fallen humanity. 



30 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

We inquire concerning the theatre, and learn that it is not a 
Government institution, but managed by a company, who keep 
it open only in the winter ; from which we conclude, that the 
people cannot afford to amuse themselves, or that amusement is 
not so absolutely necessary to their existence as in some coun- 
tries we have seen. 

They have demolished the castles and built a federal palace. 
Our exclamation on beholding it is, " How exactly it corres- 
ponds with our idea of the little republic !" It is not magnificent 
or imposing, but there is a modest grandeur in its whole, and a 
modest beauty in its details, that comport with the pretensions 
of the people, though there could have been no parsimony in 
the council that voted about fom' hundred and thirty thousand dol- 
lars for such a purpose. It is more remarkable, perhaps, that the 
architect did not spend all the money they allowed him ; though 
he answered their expectations in the results he produced. We 
walked through the rooms one afternoon just after the honourable 
members had ended their debates for the day ; and supposing they 
had all departed, we took a seat in the presidential chair, in order 
to have a sense of the feelings of the President of the Swiss Re- 
public. Our cicerone said, if we sat there, we must make a 
speech, upon which we replied, '' Oh, yes ;" and had just risen 
for that purpose, when the honourable gentleman whose particu- 
lar office it was to harangue his " fellow citizens" from that desk, 
walked in. He bowed respectfully to one whom he must have 
considered an unscrupulous usurper, and we bowed as deferentially 
as possible, and resigned. 

But we must not linger too long even in repubhcan palaces. 

A shady promenade attracts our attention, and following a 
narrow pathway we come upon a group of little girls, and learn 
that they belong to the orphan school near by. We sit down 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 31 

on a bench to watch them in their play. They are pinning 
leaves together with stems, and making wreaths and scarfs with 
which to adorn themselves, and then ''go a visitmg," as we have 
seen little girls do a thousand times. The conversation and 
the sports of children are the same in all languages and all 
lands. 

We ascend an eminence, and find ourselves on what were m the 
olden times the ramparts for the defence of the town. Now it is 
a playground for children, and their merry voices make the same 
glad music, though it is not in one, but many strange tongues. We 
sit down on the roots of a tree, and a little boy not four years 
old looks a moment in our face, and without any more formal 
introduction cUmbs up and throws his arms around our neck. 
We teach him how to use his wooden shovel in the sand ; his 
tiny sister asks us to rock the cradle of her doll, and soon we 
are surrounded by a little train of wagons and hobbyhorses w4th 
their owners in amusing rivalry for our attention. How truth- 
ful are children ! How sad that they must be trained to all the 
deceptions of false politeness and the cold unchristian charities 
of the world I 

We extend our walk, and without having been told, or 
thought, that from here could be seen the mountains, we look 
round indifferently, till by accident our eyes wander in a new 
direction, and rest on the distant horizon. " What are they ?" 
was our first exclamation. The mountains? Yes, the moun- 
tains I The clouds have suddenly broken and lifted their dark 
curtains ; the setting sun is tinging their tops with the soft tints 
of grey and purple, so that every line is traced as with a pencil 
against the sky, reflecting the snowy masses below in more bril- 
liant whiteness. From no pen or pencil had we received the 
most shadowy conception of their grandeur. No pen or pencil 



32 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

can define the feeling, wliicli seemed to fall like a weight upon 
our spirit as we gazed. 

Their enchantment is like that of a beautiful face, changmg 
with every varying emotion. Every hue of sunshine and sha- 
dow, every passing cloud, the seasons, morning, noon, and even- 
ing, the moon, the stars, every phase of the atmosphere — all 
these are influences which give them, every moment, a new 
charm. 

One might* expect to tire of those everlasting mountains, for 
ever and for ever there ; but they are never the same, even from 
the same point of observation. They are Uke a kaleidoscope 
■v\ith an endless succession of changes, a rainbow with its arch 
of gold and pm'ple and scarlet spread out into immensity. 




CHAPTER II. 



URI. 



TRAVELLERS AT FLUELEN — DESCRIPTION OF VILLAGES — HOUSES — ELECTIONS — 
GRUTLI— C OSTUMES— CALAMITIES. 



If our plan were to speak of the different cantons in the 
order of their rank, we should commence with Zurich, as to her 
is awarded the precedence in all things. But to suit our own 
convenience, we begin with those whose names are most familiar, 
and with which theu' history was first developed. 

From the steamer we stepped upon the wharf at Fluelen, 
which is the port through which all must pass on their way over 
the St. Gotthard ; and the arrival of every diligence presents in 
the great street fronting the water the usual scene of porters, 
valets, and coachmen — travellers who have passed in the night, 
where was to be seen the grandest scenery in the world, and 
will go home to say ''they have been in Switzerland" — troops 
of young men with their long Alpine stocks, wreaths of ever- 
green on their hats, and their pockets full of " specimens ;" and 
ladies in the height of the fashion, with so many grievances that 
one cannot help wondering why they do not travel in cavalcade, 

2* 88 



34 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

bringing their own mirrors, dressing-maids, and tapestry car- 
pets. They are on their way to Ragatz, to Zurich, or the 
Khigi, and in half an hour the village is as quiet as if they had 
never fluttered and whirled in our midst. 

When the boat arrives, it is the same, with a little variation ; 
they wish a coach to Altdorf, to Burglen and Attinghausen ; 
and, with " Murray " in their hands, set off to see where Tell 
was born, and the men of Grlitli lived, and then hurry on to 
Como and Lago Maggiore, and before the snow is on the hills 
are back to Paris. They have travelled ! Our mission com- 
pels us to stop by the way, and our astonishment is to see how 
little influence all these throngs from the great world seem to 
have on the people. 

We set out alone one morning to explore the village. It is 
not very large, and only a few rods from the largest and very 
comfortable hotel led us into a narrow, dingy street, where the 
houses looked as old as their history. Sitting on a stone we 
saw a little girl very busily engaged with some netting, and, 
in accordance with our rule and inclination, we stopped to ask 
her a question. She was at first very shy and not disposed to 
be communicative, but, convinced of our friendliness, she became 
also friendly, and we asked her to walk with us a little way up 
the hill. She readily assented, her fingers never pausing an 
instant, however quickly she talked or ran. Before we had 
gone very far, all constraint had vanished between us, and she 
was henceforth our companion in the churchyard and by the 
lake, in garden and on the hillside, wherever we wished to stroll. 
We thought her at first about nine or ten years old, but when 
we asked her, she said she was sixteen ; yet there was no 
deformity about her, and her face was bright and intelligent. 

We went to the school-house, which was in the upper room 



uKi. 35 

of a dwelKng, and reached by a dark, miserable stairway. The 
village priest was also the village schoolmaster, which is often 
the case in Catholic Switzerland. Reading and writing, with 
a little of arithmetic, was the extent of the pupils' acquirements, 
but the penmanship was very beautiful, and, so far as their 
knowledge extended, it was thorough. On examining a beauti- 
ful writing-book, we asked our little companion if she could 
write as well, and she said, " jS^o, not quite, but she could read 
and write, and so could all the children in the village." 

In the churchyard we saw a large iron kettle filled with 
water, hanging by a pole, and a brush of dry boughs resting on 
the surface. ''What is it for?" She answered by taking it 
up and sprinkhng some graves with water. It was "holy 
water" and she crossed herself by dipping her finger therein 
and drawing it across her forehead. 

The people are wholly Catholic, and date then* conversion to 
Christianity so far back as 630, by Bishop Martin, who is the 
patron saint of the canton. They have still no city, only four 
villages and fifteen parishes. For a long time they were in 
some measure subject to the Pope, but since the sixteenth cen- 
tury they have chosen their own pastors, and paid them as they 
pleased. In every village there is a school in winter, but in 
summer the youth are so scattered among the mountains that it 
is not possible to continue them. 

The people of Uri are decidedly a pastoral people, and their 
habits in conformity to their life. With the exception of a few 
in the larger villages, the houses are built after the model of 
those described in the earliest allusions to their history, and 
though they look very pretty in pictures, have not this virtue in 
reality. In front are the dates of the year in which they were 
built, and while looking so fragile as if they could not endure 



36 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

the shocks of twenty years of time and tempest, they have 
already stood several centuries. 

The roofs are of long shingles placed upon laths, with a board 
lying crosswise, on which are set heavy stones, to prevent them 
from being scattered to the four winds, as they certainly would 
be by the first gale from the north. The first story upon the 
ground floor is devoted to wood, wagons and trumpery, and the 
second story is entered by stairs outside. This is a very common 
construction of peasant houses everywhere in Switzerland. The 
sitting-room and sleeping-room for the elders of the family are 
over the basement in front, and adjoining them behind is the 
kitchen, which reaches to the roof. A dark stairway leads to 
the chambers, which correspond to the front rooms below. It 
looks very dismal without and within. The great stove is some- 
times of potter's ware and sometimes of bricks. The rude 
benches, upon which the family gather round the fire in winter 
evenings, are entirely of home manufacture, and so are generally 
the table and the chest of drawers, which are everywhere the 
accompaniments. Under the benches are long rows of old and 
new shoes, and over the stove, on strings or poles, long rows of 
clothes and stockings "hanging up to dry." A clock, which 
we recognize to have originated in the Black Forest, is fastened 
to the wall, and the pendulum swings to and fro laden with 
dust, while the wheels are sometimes trammeled by the work 
of spiders, who are free to go out and in, and spread over all 
their warp and woof. Under this is perhaps the picture of a 
dove, as emblem of the Holy Spirit, and here and there on the 
walls representations from the Bible and Swiss history. Over 
the table is a wooden chain, to which in the evening is suspended 
a tallow candle, and in the corner a crucifix, under which are 
amulets and gifts they have received in their pilgrimages to 



uRi. 37 

cloisters and consecrated spots. There will be a bed in each 
room, and one or two cradles, perhaps a loom, and apparatus 
for all manner of useful purposes hanging on nails to the walls. 
Over the bed, lying on two pegs, is a gun, and since the French 
invasion in 1*199 they have added to this a Russian sword and a 
French sabre ; and it was in this war that they showed they 
had not forgotten the use of those things ; and the misery into 
which they were plunged in consequence of the invasion, gave 
an opportunity of proving that sterling virtues were still the 
tenants of their bosoms. 

In front of almost every house is to be seen a trough, hewn 
out of a tree, for water, mth a rude carving of a saint or hero 
standing guard. 

Altdorf was nearly destroyed by the French, who set it on 
fire in 1*199, and therefore has a new look, the houses being 
stone and covered with tiles. Twice before it has experienced a 
similar disaster, and therefore has little of the ancient appear- 
ance of the other villages. The two principal wells are orna- 
mented with statues of Tell and a former burgomaster ; that of 
Tell standing where he stood to bend his bow, and the other 
where the boy was placed with the apple on his head. 

In the village of Burglen, the birthplace of Tell, and half a 
mile distant from Altdorf, is also a chapel, on the walls of which 
are painted the principal scenes of his life. The Reuss passes 
by, in which he was drowned whilst attempting to save a child 
who had fallen into the stream. In life and death he remained 
a hero. In 1388 was consecrated the chapel, which stands by 
the sea, on the spot where he jumped on shore from the boat. 
A procession from all the neighbouring cantons assembled on 
the Wednesday after Ascension, and heard mass in the chapel. 
At this first consecration 114 persons were present who had 



38 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

known Tell in his life. A similar procession takes place every 
year now, on the first Sunday after Ascension, when a steamer 
sets out with the escutcheon of the four forest cantons painted 
on its side, the broad banner of the Confederacy waving from a 
tall flagstaff in the centre, and the colours of several cantons 
in gay contrast on different parts of the deck. Leaving Lucerne 
in the morning, and stopping at all the villages on its way to 
collect the devotees, who appear in the brightest of holiday cos- 
tume, it looks like a flower-garden dancing on the waters, or 
some fairy land, with " fairylike music," paying a visit to our 
humdrum world. Many smaller boats are in its train, and the 
little skiffs, with their parti-coloured awnings, and paddles of all 
the hues of the rainbow, are not the less like elfin sprites as they 
skip so merrily along. 

The fete is a religious one, as are all in Catholic Switzerland, 
and the ceremonies at the chapel are those usual in the Catholic 
Church. The capuchins in their long brown mantles, and the 
monks in their cowls, bishops in gold and scarlet, and priests in 
their sable robes, are not the least conspicuous among the 
strange crowd. 

They stop at the Grutli and the Tellenplatte, and then pro- 
ceed to Fluelen, where they disembark, and form a grand proces- 
sion to Altdorf, where the whole village is in waiting. Banners 
and streamers with mottoes are waving from the housetops, the 
streets are arched with wreaths and flowers, and young men and 
maidens stand here and there in groups, singing hymns and patri- 
otic songs. It is thus they commemorate the past and enjoy the 
present. Modern events have taken no root in their soil or in 
their hearts. And, indeed, one may call the Telknjplatte the 
Mecca of the whole civilized world, and a proof that deeds of 
virtuous heroism find a response in every human heart. 



UEi. 39 

During the last year the Griitli has been purchased by the 
contribution of a mite from all the school-children of Switzer- 
land. The sum required was nearly eleven thousand dollars ; 
but with scarcely any effort it amounts to more than half as 
much again, because the parents, fearing a deficiency, aided 
in the work. The sums collected from the children having 
been kept separate, it is found they alone have effected the 
purchase, and each little patriot is to receive a picture of the 
three men in the attitude of making the solemn oath on the spot. 
This same year Mount Yernon has become the common property 
of the country of which Washington w^as the father, evincing 
that republics are not always to be lawfully accused of indiffer- 
ence and ingratitude.* 

* It wa3 on the 10th of November, the one hundredth birthday of Schiller, that the 
writings were finished, signed and sealed, which conveyed the memorable spot from 
Mr. Truttman, the owner, to the possession of the whole confederate people. And on 
the day when the whole civilized world celebrated the birth of the great poet, he was 
not forgotten by the people whose glory he sang. The men of Uri, as in the drama, 
were the " first on the ground," and the others crossed the lake in a great yacht, sing- 
ing as they came in sight of the mountain : 

" We heartily hail thee in distance, 

still mountain that liftest thine head. 
Where the wavelet, that melts as it glistens, 
From snows everlasting is fed. 

" We praise thee, most peaceful of regions, 
We hail thee, thou holiest land, 
Where our fathers, with valorous legions, 
For ever burst slavery's band." 

Arrived at the opposite shore, they were greeted by their waiting countrymen, and 
all ascended together to stand on the sacred spot where the patriot league was sworn. 
He-.e they formed a circle, hand in hand, and renewed the solemn covenant, singing 
afterwards some thrilling songs of freedom Many liberty speeches were also made, and 
a resolution passed to place there a single shaft of stone, bearing the inscription : 

" To Tell's poet. 
On his hundredth birthday, 
The original cantons." 



40 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The annual election of state officers is the grand festival of 
each year in every canton, and yet is held always on the Sab- 
bath. It is a religious and solemn occasion in their eyes, and 
Sunday the most fitting time for its responsible duties. Before 
th& act of mediation, in 1816, the period of majority for every 
youth in Canton Uriwas fourteen years of age, but it being held 
that he could not be a citizen before he was a man, the youth 
now waits till he is twent;y before he can exercise the right of 
suffrage. 

The place for holding the popular assembly in this canton is 
three miles from Altdorf, at the foot of a mountain in Botz- 
lingen, within sight of the ruins of Attinghausen. On the 15th 
of April, fourteen days before they are to hold the election and 
transact the business of the canton, a formal notice is published, 

During the dinners which celebrated the same occasion in Berne, a German finished 
his toast by wishing for Switzerland a Schiller. A Swiss voice quickly responded, 
" And we wish for Germany a Tell." 

In Basle, the ladies, thinking they were unduly neglected, by not being invited to 
participate in festivities so proper to be graced by their presence, and the importance 
of which they so fully appreciated, resolved to institute a fete by themselves. Silently 
and softly, as was meet, they made the arrangements, secured the elegant salon of the 
Three Kings Hotel for the purpose, decorated it with a bust of Schiller, engravings, 
works of art, and wreaths of flowers, and at nine o'clock in the evening, while their 
lords were convened around the festive board in a distant quarter of the city, these 
fair conspirators assembled, but not with murderous intent. They were pleasantly 
surprised to find they had been remembered, and their plan approved by those who at 
first ignored their existence. Vases of flowers, with significant mottoes, were upon the 
table, placed, if not by fair, yet by skilful hands, and a bouquet of rare flowers adorned 
each plate, tied in graceful knots of white ribbons. The ladies exclaimed, "Better 
late than never," and evidently entered upon their festivities with more buoyant spirits. 
They read aloud portions of Schiller's poem, sang songs of freedom, and danced. They 
were not the less pleasantly surprised, in the midst of their mirth, by " Fireworks on 
the Rhine," which formed no part of their programme. At supper they gave toasts, 
indulged again in wit and song, and at twelve returned to their homes, not a little 
triumphant at the success of their plot, and their genuine enjoyment of an occasion 
where gentlemen had implied they were incapable of participating in the " feast of 
reason and the flow of soul." 



DEI. 41 

specifying the time, wMcli is the first Sunday in May, and the 
object of the meeting, from which no person is excluded except 
criminals ; and no one, however poor or ill-clothed, fails to be 
present. 

After morning service in the church, the people form a grand 
procession. At the head are the musicians, and the drum- 
mers, and a company of military, who surround the national 
banner. Then follow two men clothed in the ancient costume 
of the heroes of Switzerland, carrying upon their shoulders 
enormous buffalo horns, ornamented with silver. Close behind 
them are what they term the Land Weibel, men who answer to 
the valets of kings, only they are valets to that invisible but im- 
portant personage, the Repubhc. They are clothed with the 
cantonal colours — ^long loose robes, half black and half yellow, 
falling to tlie feet, and a large round hat, with points runnmg 
out at the side. In England they might call them beadles, but 
it is diflBcult to find an exactly corresponding ofiice, and we have 
therefore no appropriate appellation. 

These important and very serious-looking personages carry 
the official seals, the keys of the archives, the sword of justice, 
and a staff surmounted by a globe, upon which is an apple upon 
the point of an arrow. Then follow the chief magistrates on 
horseback in theu' black silk mantles, and bearing a sword ; and 
lastly, counsellors and other citizens. 

The seats for the assembly are arranged in a semicircle, and 
a large concourse being already seated, at the approach of the 
imposing cortege they rise and uncover their heads. On a table 
in front are the statute-books, and there the Land Weibel de- 
posit the seals and keys, which are enclosed in a bag, also bear- 
ing the cantonal colours. Beside them is the ancient knife or 
sword used by the venerated heroes, and now the emblem of peace. 



42 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The officials take their places upon a platform, and the musicians 
play an air known as the " Old Song of TdlT 

The session is opened by the chief magistrate, who is denomi- 
nated Landammatij with a speech recalling the principal events 
of their history, the blessings they at present enjoy, and, re- 
viewing the past year, j&nishes with an allusion to their obliga- 
tions to God as their divine benefactor, and the necessity of im- 
ploring his aid for the future ; when all kneel down for a few 
moments in silent prayer. This is a most affecting and beauti- 
ful sight, so evident is the sincerity and depth of their devotion ; 
and not the least attractive feature of the occasion are the child- 
ren, who are placed in front of the platform within the circle, 
in order to be early impressed with the importance of republican 
virtue, and who are during the whole ceremony profoundly atten- 
tive. Women are allowed to be present, but not within, among 
their lords ; they stand at a respectful distance without, but 
where they see and hear all that passes. 

A month before the meeting, seven honorable citizens, each 
of a different family, are commissioned to prepare any resolutions, 
or propose any new measures of government. The first act of 
business for the day is for the Landamman to place these, if fur- 
nished, in order before the people. Every one is allowed to 
speak upon their merits, and to make any new propositions, and 
the discussions are often loud and stormy. When the vote is 
called, those who are for the affirmative hold up their hands, 
and when the negatives are counted, and there seems still a 
doubt, each party marches in single file before the table sepa- 
rately and the numbers are counted. A majority of one is suffi- 
cient to establish a law. 

When all business is finished, the reigning Landamman ren- 
ders an account of his magistracy, and asks if the people are 



ITRI. 43 

satisfied with his administration. Being assured of this by loud 
applause, he steps forward and lays down his seal of office. All 
the other officials follow his example, and take their seats in the 
midst of the assembly. For a little time there is a profound 
silence, intended to be emblematic of the power of the people to 
govern themselves, when there is no visible government, no hand 
holding the reins. Then follows a little farce of mock licence, 
because they have no rulers and can do what they please, which 
speedily subsides into order, and the election of new officers com- 
mences. 

The oldest person who has held the office of Landamman is 
invited to name a successor to him who has just retired, and 
often one of the most obscure among the citizens is nominated 
for this office and elected. The same person may be re-elected 
any number of times, if they choose, but it is not often done 
without an interval. In honour to Walter Furst they chose the 
chief magistrate from the family of Attinghausen for nearly a 
century. 

When all the officers are elected, of whom the principal are 
twelve in number, they resume the places of those who resigned, 
and take the keys and seals in the order in which they were laid 
down. The oaths of office are then administered, in which they 
swear to respect the laws and the independence of the country, 
and the assembly disperses. It is very seldom that this solem- 
nity and order are in the least infringed. A portion of the 
people indulge in games and songs, but there is a proverb, that 
''Uri is the conscience of Switzerland," and crimes and misde- 
meanours occur more seldom here than elsewhere. 

They are superstitious, and have a thousand legends concern- 
ing the " genii " who inhabit the mountains, and who, they be- 
ievc, dispel the storms and rule the tempests, watch over the 



44 THE COTTAGES OF. THE ALPS. 

fountains and render fruitful the fields. Their language is ex- 
ceedingly poetic in relating these stories, and the flowers of rhe- 
toric abound in the speeches of their magistrates, and even ia 
the records of their statute books. 

It is not known that they were originally the same people as 
the neighbouring cantons. Their traditions date to the time of 
the Emperor Theodosius, and a document in their archives, 
granting them peculiar privileges, bears the seal of Charle- 
magne, They were originally called Taurisci, probably from 
taurus, the Latin for bull, and the Romans may have found the 
formidable horns already on their armour. The men are still 
called the finest in Switzerland ; yet, in many places, deformity 
and sickness appear as the consequence of bad food and un- 
healthy air. Meat is very rare ; the various preparations of 
milk and cheese being the principal sustenance of the poor ; and 
there live many who see nothing all winter but porridge, and all 
summer but goat's milk. 

The dress was formerly blue small clothes and long white 
stockings, fastened together by leather cords and buttons, red 
vest and a leathern girdle, with the date of the year upon it when 
it was made, in colours wrought with a needle. Some wear a 
broad-brimmed hat ornamented with peacock's feathers. But 
now they have universally adopted the dress of men in all lands. 
Among the women, as usual, the ancient costume is preserved 
longer, though much modified. Still one may see now and then 
the red petticoat and red stockings of the olden times, the low 
bodice and full chemisette, with crimped cap-frill standing up 
on the head like the shell of the nautilus, and the little square 
collars and silver chains which form part of almost every cos- 
tume in Switzerland. The collar is usually of velvet, wrought 
in silver flowers, or, among the poor, with coloured threads. 



uRi. 45 

square on the shoulder, and the chain of silver among the rich, 
and of steel among the poor, fastens to each corner behind, and 
is brought under the arm, hanging loosely, and meets a broad 
clasp on the corner in front. When the whole di'ess is neat and 
corresponds, it has a very pretty effect. We heard one day a 
load clatter, clatter, through the street, and on looking closely 
saw a group of girls with sandals on their feet. They are made 
of maple wood, very large, and, slipping at every step, are like 
so many blows upon the pavement. 

The people are subject to all sorts of casualties, which must 
be a continual drain upon their means. We were passing from 
village to village one afternoon, and as we were riding leisurely 
along, several men called out halt ! at the top of their voices ; 
and upon halting, we learned that the road was stopped up by a 
land-slide, which had occurred only a few hours before, and 
which could have buried us beneath its mass of stone and mud 
if we had been happening to pass at the time. All travellers 
must go far round another way till it was mended, and this 
would require several days. These land-slides are frequent after 
a rain, and avalanches are of daily occurrence durmg the season 
of snow. 

The pass of the St. Gotthard belongs to Uri and Tessin on 
the south side of the Alps. The first person who ever crossed 
it was an English mmeralogist, July 25th, 1725. The second 
person was another Englishman, in 11*13, who required the aid 
of four horses and eight men ; and the expense of going from 
Altdorf to Giornico was one hundred and thirty dollars. The 
path was improved, and became a great route for transport by 
means of mules, and yielded an annual revenue of more than 
eight thousand five hundred dollars to Uri alone. When the 
Simplon was finished in 1806, the St. Gotthard was abandoned, 



46 THE COTIAGES OF THE ALPS. 

and tlie people saw their only source of industry cut off, unless 
they could build a similar road, which they resolved to do. It 
was a marvellous undertaking for Napoleon, and Ktill more 
marvellous for the little Canton XJri to construct a carriage-way 
to Italy. But in 1820 in was commenced, and ten years later, 
in 1830, it was opened ; other cantons having contributed to 
the work, and a native of Altdorf being the engineer. In 
1837, nearly one third of it was swept away by a terrible storm, 
and in 1839 it experienced again a similar calamity. It leads 
the travellers through some of the finest scenery in Switzerland, 
and passes scenes of the most interesting historical associations, 
but the village of Andermatt, on the meadows, is the only one 
of importance for many miles, and the old hospice at the foot of 
the mountain was for centuries the only place of entertainment. 
Now there are hotels, but we cannot call them good. 

The meadow must have been once a lake, and the grass is 
still nourished by a moisture that gives it a peculiar brightness. 
The butter which it produces is also of a peculiar golden hue, and 
the cheese of unequalled richness. 

The snows last till April, and they have a proverb which says 
" No April so good that each hedge has not its hat." It is 
melted usually by the faun, a hot wind which blows from the 
south, and causes the drifted masses to disappear more in 
twenty-four hours, than the sun in eight days. It often con- 
tinues in one current for a week without cessation, and some- 
times with such violence that houses are unroofed and trees torn 
up by the roots. But at the same time it is so warm that the 
buds open into flowers in a few days, and are afterwards chilled 
by a wind from the west, thus blighting the hopes of the hus- 
Dandman. Nine tenths of the storms come from the west. The 
faun is felt as far north as Zurich, and the rules of wind and 



UEi. 47 

weather baffle the wisest prophets concerning then* freaks. The 
changes from cold to heat are almost instantaneous, and the 
barometer and thermometer run a race, but in opposite direc- 
tions. It is scarcely possible to keep a fire while it lasts, as the 
flames are so suddenly increased as to endanger the buildings, 
and there is no certainty when it will appear. 

But the " brave men of Url" rise superior to all calamities, 
and where there is so high an appreciation of noble deeds there 
must be still the capacity to perform them. They have not 
many great names upon the scrolls which record the works of 
art in the quiet days of peace, though the sculptor Inrihof, long 
known at Rome, was a native of Uri ; and a poet, a historian, 
and a painter, have originated in three of their most secluded 
villages. The war-trumpet would be sure to call out their 
energies, but we hope it will be long ere its notes fall on their 
ears, and that ambition will be awakened to rivalry in not less 
honourable but more useful paths. 




CHAPTER III. 



SCHWYTZ. 



ORIGIN OJF PEOPLE — BRUNNEN — DILIGENCE — HOTELS — COSTUMES — IMPROTE- 
MENTS — EINSIEDELN — PILGRIMS — LEGENDS. 



In Schwytz tlie people have a legend concerning their origin, 
which says, " Long ago, a colony from Sweden left theu' coun- 
try because they had become too many, and there was no more 
room in the land. Their destination was Rome, but a wild 
storm which swept down the St. Gotthard prevented their cross- 
ing, and being also overtaken by robbers, and though victorious, 
much weakened by the combat, they resolved to settle farther 
north. Brunnen seemed to them a pleasant valley, and they 
found there good springs of water. It reminded them of the 
home they had left, and they built their huts by the sea. The 
question arose, what name they should give the new land, and 
two brothers wishing to baptize it, each with his own, had a 
fearful dispute, and at length concluded to settle the matter by 
single combat, the one who should be victorious acquiring the 
riglit to the coveted honour. Schioit and Scheiz were the com* 

48 



SCHWYTZ. 4 9 

petitors, and the first being crowned victor, with a little varia- 
tion, his name has become that of a whole people." 

There must be some foundation for the story, as it is com- 
memorated by art as well as by song, and the two men of 
"giant form" and " giant mould" engaged in deadly strife are 
painted on the stuccoed walls of a warehouse on the shore of the 
lake, and its authenticity admits not a doubt in the minds of the 
narrators. The legend proceeds to state that Louis the Ger- 
man being emperor, they sent deputies " to ask permission to 
settle in the land, which he granted, and also accorded to them 
many privileges ; requiring no tribute, and promising that no 
foreign baihffs should be sent to rule over them. The history 
recognizes their existence, and speaks of a similar deputation 
which took place in the ninth century. These privileges were 
confimied by successive emperors, till they were looked upon as 
rights. They had enjoyed freedom so long that bondage was 
not endurable ; and when the attempt was made by Albert, son 
of Rudolph of Hapsburg, to subdue them as an inheritance for 
his son, they revolted, and with their sister cantons of the lake 
formed the alliance which resulted in the "Helvetian Confede- 
racy." This treaty was renewed in 1315, and those who 
formed it are also represented in full-length frescoes upon the 
walls of the same house by the sea. In 1815, was celebrated at 
Schw^tz, the five hundredth anniversary of this union, when the 
people from every mountain and valley came with their banners 
and their songs to hold a glad festival together in the cradle of 
their hberties. 

Bronnen seemed to us also a " pleasant valley," and we tar- 
ried there many days. We rose early to see the sun shed his 
golden light upon the waters, and sat loug into the night to 
watch the moonbeams gild the ripples, and once saw them lashed 



50 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

into fury by a storm which sent them clashing and foaming 
against the rocks as if some mad spirit moved them with a living 
rage. And whether in sunshine or in storm, our thoughts wan- 
dered back to the little boat which darted over its surface 
impelled by the strong ann of the hero, in whose breast was a 
storm as wild, as he swore revenge and death to the hated 
oppressor. Now there are a hundred boats with their oars dip- 
ping leisurely as they glide along, and gay, laughing maidens 
are the rowers. 

Four times a day steamers pass by, on one of which are 
painted the arms of the four cantons which border the lake, and 
over which waves the flag of the Confederacy. They are gay 
with many colours, like a fair maiden in holiday costume, and 
their decks thronged with pleasure-seeking travellers. Brunnen 
is the depot for the merchandise w^hich is to pass the St. Gott- 
hard, or which is brought over and destined for the north. 
Travellers from the north and east come also this way to embark 
for Lucerne, or to cross the mountains, so that all summer the 
wharf presents one scene of bustle and hum of business and 
pleasure. 

In no other canton have we so pleasant remembrances of the 
kindness of the people. We now and then took a fancy to pass 
incognito, not understanding why we should not avail ourselves 
of this privilege as well as any princess or duchess, though it 
might not be for the same reason. We converted our name 
into a German one, by the addition of a syllable, and spoke the 
language of the people among whom we happened to be as well 
as we could. If Germans did not understand us, they con- 
cluded it was because we were SwiSs, and if the Swiss did not 
understand us, they concluded it was because we were German, 
or from some outlandish corner, the dialect of which they had 



SCHWYTZ. 61 

never heard ; and we allowed them to think what they pleased, 
never asserting that we were from one country or another, 
though we are quite certain they took us now and then to be 
fugitives from some rebellious colony, or emissaries from Austrian 
or Napoleonic head-quarters, these personages being at that 
time sufficiently abundant in many lands. The true nature of 
our embassy it would never occur to them t« imagine ; but our 
adventures were many and amusing, though neither duchess nor 
spy. The obliging and lady-like hostess of the " Po5^ " could 
not have treated us with more attention had we been empress, 
and without manifesting the least inquisitiveness concerning our 
" name and station, age, or race." No book was presented us, 
in which to record whence we came and whither we were going ; 
every favour was granted that we asked, and many that we did 
not ask ; and the bill contained no long list of extras, and was 
in all things just and reasonable. She was a lady in her dress 
and manners, everywhere present in the sphere of her duties, 
attentive without being obsequious, generous in what she fur- 
nished, and without exaction in what she required. Guide- 
books, which are no guide at all in these matters, do not mention 
it as among the " first-rate hotels," but it was among the best 
we found, and we therefore commend it, though they did not 
know, and probably never will, that we could thus reward 
them.* 



* It was after this that we spent some weeks at the Pension Jaggi near Berne, and 
should be guilty of injustice not to record the sterling integrity of the old lady who has 
been for so many years its presiding genius. Her fault was always to forget the items, 
and we have heard those who had known her in the capacity of landlady nearly twenty 
years, assert that not the most captious traveller ever accused her of injustice or exac- 
tion to the amr.untof a centime. 

" One good price, and done with it," is her rule, and she abides by it. She pays her 
servants, and they attend to her guests not less Lindly than those who demand a fee 



52 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

'' Hotel keeping" is a peculiar institution in Switzerland, and 
cannot be passed by in silence. The charges are, as elsewhere 
on the Continent, so much for every item, however large or 
small it may be ; but in most places one may stay a few days or 
weeks as a boarder, paying so much per day, a sum expected to 
be less than when reckoned by the piece. As a general rule, it 
may be said of these hotels and boarding houses that they are 
good and reasonable. But the system of charging by the piece 
can never be just, and the custom of demanding " Trinkgeld," in 
addition to the bill, is a fraud, especially when most of the 
travellers belong to nations who do not understand the language 
and habits of the people. 

One can never know with any degree of precision what the 
expense in any place may be. When the first sum is mentioned, 
in answer to the inquiry, '' How much must I pay ?" it seems 
small ; but when you have paid all the just and unjust extras, it 
is larger than in an ordinary hotel, where the whole sum is given 
directly and sounds enormous. Besides, it affords opportunities 
of making false accounts, which are abundantly improved. Eng- 
lish people seldom read a bill, and in a great proportion of cases 
could not if they would. What the long string of items may be 
which they find presented for payment, they do not know ; 
and travelling for pleasure, and being in a hurry, they do not 
care. Yet now and then one takes the trouble to decipher the 
hieroglyphics, and often finds an enumeration of comforts and 
luxuries of which he has had no actual experience. One is 
always sure to be a candle charged three times its cost, when 
only an inch or two has been burned. They are thus able to 

for every step. In tWs way there is no misunderstanding, and no petty disputes about 
a few pennyworths, which many people will dispute about, not for the value of a 
penny, but because they will not submit to injustice. 



SCIIWYTZ. 53 

sell it over and over, and must find tallow, soap and spermaceti 
among the most profitable of their investments. We have seen 
travellers, who, having paid for the candle and soap, put it in 
then- bags, and at the next place " found themselves," till they 
were obliged to purchase more in the same way. Another 
item is " service" being twenty, and often forty cents for merely 
the ordinary preparations in your sleeping-room, and which is no 
substitute for the " trinkgeld," which is as much more, and 
which if you refuse, your baggage is seized, and twenty servants 
stand in array to fight it out. They know you must yield, 
because it is a trifle compared to being delayed on a journey, 
and few people care to expose themselves to a public quarrel, 
the rights of which cannot be explained. 

On the summit of the Righi, one may arrive at midnight and 
leave at sunrise, not seeing a servant, or having the least atten- 
tion, yet the " service" is just the same. The hotel is good, and 
the arrangements marvellous to behold, when one considers that 
every article of food and furniture must be carried up on the 
shoulders of men ; and during the season, the saloon and dining- 
hall present a scene like that of Baden-Baden. No reasonable 
person would be disposed to complain of a generous price in 
such a place. But why not have a uniform one, that allows 
every one to know what the expense may be of spending a 
night or a week on the Righi ? 

The deceptions concerning guides are the same. You are told 
that for a guide and horse you must pay four dollars ; and 
having had no experience in this system of fraud, you suppose 
this the whole sum. When you descend, nearly a dollar more 
is demanded for " Trinkgeld." At the foot of the Reghi we saw 
this disputed, and a quarrel was the consequence. The party 
were detained too late for the boat, and had to pay it in the end. 



54 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The law fixes the tariff for guides and horses, which is placed in 
a conspicuous place for all to read, but there is no mention of 
the " Trinkgeld " which is often demanded by the hotel keeper, 
and never a cent of it given to the guide. In our case,* the 
hotel keeper kept only half, and knowing that we were to leave 
in a hurry, the boat being in sight, he contrived to delay pre- 
senting the bill till the last moment, and looking only at the 
items, without adding them, we did not observe till the next 
day that several extra francs were set down without even the 
pretence of an item. The same thing is often done, and so suc- 
cessfully, that they have no fear of detection. 

Another principle, both in hotel and shop-keeping, is, to 
charge all who speak English, a thu'd more than any other 
people. A Swiss lady, who had married an Englishman, said 
she was no longer in favour in her native city among the trades- 
people, because they could not cheat her husband as they had 
been doing for many years. But this is the practice over the 
whole Continent. "We have seen the experiment tried very often 
of asking prices, within the same hour concerning the same arti- 
cles, by a native and an Englishman, and the difference would be 
always a third, and sometimes one half. Every year brings a 
new throng, and they are all in the same hurry. Forty thou- 
sand is the average number annually in the public conveyances 
of Switzerland, and the season scarcely three months in dura- 
tion. They wish, therefore, to make as much as possible, and 
are tempted to all unlawful as well as lawful means. But these 
are the sins of an individual, or a class, and not of the whole 
people ; and lately there have been formed associations among 
hotel keepers to prevent fraud and exaction. There is nothing 
demanded by the government for passports ; and postage and 

* Lion (I'or— Weggis. 



SCHWYTZ. 55 

telegrams are cheaper than ia any other country of Europe. 
Neither in diligence nor railroad is any one allowed to smoke 
without the consent of the whole company, and the facilities for 
travelling with speed and comfort are carried to the greatest 
possible perfection. 

"First come, first served," is the rule in the great coach, 
which still goes rattling over the hills and through the valleys, . 
and the best seat is in the coupe in front, as there is nothing to 
obstruct the view, and there is room for only three persons. 
People who are only desirous of seeing the most wonderful 
scenery, can reach the important points in Canton Schwytz by 
steamboat and railway, and thus avoid the diligence. But 
our object being the reverse, we took the diligence and avoided 
the railway. It was only by thjs means that we could see the 
villages and their inhabitants. 

The people being Catholic, and the life pastoral, they are very 
sunilar, in many respects, to their sisters Uri and Unterwald. 
" In the times that tried men's souls," they were not less brave ; 
and in peace, they were as content with their rural retirements 
and simplicity. 

Innovations march slowly among the mountains ; yet Paris 
fashion plates have found their way into almost every hut and 
hamlet. The original dress of the men was similar to that in 
Unterwald, consisting of black leather small clothes, white 
stockings, scarlet vest, and blue or brown jacket reaching to the 
knee, and open in front. In olden times, the government 
officers wore scarlet mantles and perrucks, small clothes, with 
red coat, having many folds, reaching to the knee, and four 
sleeves, two of them hanging very loose, like those of Roman 
lictors. But now this is the dress of the standard-bearers and 
Landweibd, the officials appearing in black like other burghers. 



56 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

with only the addition of mantles of the same colom- for state 
occasions. 

The red petticoat and variegated apron have almost entirely 
disappeared ; but the jaunty straw hat, with bouquets of flowers 
and knots of ribbons, may sometimes be seen, with the long 
braids of hair interwoven with red, and brought down on each 
side of the neck in front. The bodice is usually of black, 
instead of blue, with scarlet lacings ; and the velvet collar has 
taken the place of the parti-coloured neckkerchief. Among a 
great portion, there is no remnant of the former costume ; and 
in some places it has all disappeared except the cap, which is 
always the last to be given up. It consists of two wings, like a 
butterfly, spread out each side, and the. hair brought up between 
in braids, and fastened with a silver or gilt hair-pin in the form 
of a full-blown rose, and called rose hair-pin. Others wear the 
lace comb, elsewhere described, standing up so high, that in 
church or public assembly there is such a forest of caps that the 
speaker is entirely concealed from those behind . The nuns wear 
black and white veils, so thick that a pretty face is entirely con- 
cealed by them. 

We have never passed through a Swiss village without seeing 
a carpenter at work on the houses ; and here and there some 
clapboards, some new shingles or window-frames, a new portico, 
or something that indicated a little improvement or the spirit of 
progress. In almost every village, there are all grades from rich 
to poor, and the striving to rise which it is always pleasant to 
observe among human bdngs. 

One of their authors says, six hundred years ago, Gessler was 
jealous of a peasant because he had a flne house. A httle later 
it was the peasants who were jealous of each other ; but now a 
new or fine house is no object of wonder or envy, they have 



SCHWYTZ. 57 

become so common. Among the poorest they are still old and 
old-fashioned, with the great overhanging roofs, without chim- 
neys and without paint — not an object for envy even in their 
best days. The kitchen is dark, the great stove occupies a third 
of its space, and around it coo with the same familiarity a family 
of children and a family of doves. The great sofa, when it is 
clean, is the only comfortable-looking article, and is duly appre- 
ciated. There rest the elders from their labours, and tumble 
the little ones in their play. It is the throne whence issue all 
orders — the council-chamber where plans are made and poUtics 
discussed. But the new houses are pretty, often white, with 
green blinds. There are not many very rich, and there are 
many very poor in the land. The canton is forty square leagues 
in extent, and has 44,000 inhabitants, with no city, and in the 
largest village only 3,000 people. They are so proud of the 
past that they do not think enough of the present and the future. 

Nearly everywhere we were almost the only passenger in the 
diligence, and occupied the couye with the postihons. - We saw 
at once that they had no faith in our incognito, but did not 
feel bound to remove their doubts, though if we had they 
might possibly have been more communicative. As it was, they 
were evidently afraid of betraying their country. 

It was here that we first saw the pilgrims on their way to 
Einsiedeln. The first group we noticed had come all the way 
from the Tyrol. How poor and miserable, careworn and travel- 
stained they looked ! What a strange infatuation that prompts 
them to seek comfort for this life and salvation for the future in 
the mummeries of a few monks in an old cloister ! We were 
also on our way thither, though for a different purpose. It is 
the saddest of all the scenes in this pleasant land, yet we cannot 
pass it by. 

3* 



58 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

Einsiedeln is the most renowned resort of pilgrims, not only in 
Switzerland, but for all middle Europe. The throng every year 
is still 150,000, and last year it was said to reach a higher 
number than ever before, though in It 00 it is stated to have 
been 202,000, and in ItlO, the incredible number of 260,000. 

The legend of the abbey, as given by the monks and credited 
by the pilgrims, is, that in the days of Charlemagne, a hermit 
of the noble family of Hohenzollern repaired to this remote 
wilderness, then called '' Finsterwald," to end his days in soli- 
tude and prayer, devoting himself to the care of a small black 
image of the Virgin, which had been given him by St. Hilde- 
garde, then Abbess of Zurich. In 803 he w^as murdered ; but 
two pet ravens which he had reared, pursued the murderers as far 
as Zurich, and by croaking and flapping their wings attracted 
attention to them, thus causing their arrest. Afterwards they 
were executed on a spot where now stands the Raven Inn. 

Meinrad, the hermit, had lived in a cell, but the renown of his 
sanctity prompted Erberard, another count of the same noble 
family, to found a convent upon the place ; and he obtained 
from the emperor the grant of large tracts of waste land as an 
endowment. On the 14th of September, 948, the Bishop of 
Constance was to consecrate the church, but the night previous 
he was awakened by angelic minstrelsy, and in the morning re- 
ceived a message from heaven, that the consecration had already 
been performed by the Saviour and powers of heaven. Pope 
Leon YIII. pronounced it a true miracle, and in consideration 
of it granted plenary indulgence to all pilgrims who should wend 
their way to the shrine of Our Lady of the Hermit ! He proba- 
bly expected his command to take effect only for a few years, or 
during his lifetime, but the most ambitious of popes never 
dreamed that for nine centuries these worthless words would 



SCHWYTZ. 



59 



preserve their charm, and millions of people really believe they 
could blot out their sins by obeying his false and sacrilegious 
mandate. It is no slander to say, that a great proportion of 
those who come now have not even so good an object as this. 

The 14th of September is still the day for the largest assembly, 
and presents the strangest concourse to be seen in any time, or 
season, or country ; all languages and all manners, all costumes 
and all colours, being blended in the most inharmonious confu- 
sion. There are tents for pilgrims and booths for trade ; devo- 
tees at their shrines, and jockeys at their stalls ; the prayers of 
the pious and the curses of the profane ; revelry, drunkenness, and 
debauchery ; the gaudy trappings of the rich, and the beggarly 
rags of the poor, the grey old monks in their cowls, and the lisp- 
ing children at their feet, all coming and going to fall on their 
knees before a little black image enshrined within the church, 
called the " Virgin and Child." There is never an hour in the 
year, perhaps, that some one is not muttering Ave Marias on 
the cold stones before this senseless object ; and at many seasons 
there are hundreds, and sometimes thousands, prostrate together, 
all really believing when they rise that their sins have been par- 
doned. What a power in faith ! Unless God has taken pity 
upon their ignorance and superstition, no influence from without 
has been exerted on their souls, yet they feel no longer the bur- 
den of transgression ; but if sin really weighs upon their con- 
sciences, they must in many cases be more heavily laden when 
they go than when they came, but being rid of one load they 
are better able, perhaps, to carry another. 

Zwinglius was curate in Einsiedeln from 1516 to 1519, and 
commenced preaching the reformatory doctrines to the pilgrims, 
and had the pleasure of seeing many adopt the true faith who 
had come there trusting to the efficacy of popish indulgences. 



60 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

But the pilgrim shrines and the gory plains of Italy are almost 
enough to stagger one's faith in the efficacy of any means for 
spreading the pure principles of the Gospel of peace and righte- 
ousness. 

The personal influence of the priesthood is much greater in 
Catholic Switzerland than in Germany at the present time, and 
the difference in those of the two faiths is far greater. Yet the 
people have never allowed pope and Church to trammel their 
political freedom. When fairly convinced that their cause was 
right, they defied all hans and prohibitions, till the politic holy 
father learned to go " so far and no farther " if he would retain 
a remnant among them as his loyal worshippers — his subjects 
they have never been. 

In the canton there are six convents, three of which are for 
women, and thirty parishes. There is a school in every com- 
mune, and the priests are in many instances the schoolmasters ; 
but instruction is not gratuitous in all, and except in the larger 
towns there is no attempt to keep the children together in the 
winter, and those who are on the hills in summer have of course 
very little opportunity for study. There is still among the people 
of the rural districts, isolated from the travelling world, much of 
the simplicity and confidence of the olden time, when, if a neigh- 
bour wanted anything in the storehouse or pantry of another, he 
took it and paid when it became convenient. The cellar and 
milkroom had no locks, and if some one needed milk or cream 
in the night, he entered and helped himself and left the money 
under the pan. 

We can never forget the bright merry face of a maiden we 
met one day in our walks. We had acted in the spirit of prime- 
val confidence, whether it would be approved now or not, and 
seated ourselves in a rustic arbour overlooking a beautiful land- 



SCHWYTZ. 61 

scape, knowing very well that if it belonged to a prince or noble- 
man we were committing an unpardonable offence. In a few 
moments two young girls passed by, and one looked in, and with 
most respectful manner said, " Good evening," according to the 
custom of her people, whether they meet friend or stranger. 
According to our custom we answered still more cordially, and 
she walked in and seated herself, saying, "It was very pleasant.'' 
There was neither embarrassment nor familiarity. We talked 
an hour together and then took a walk. She chattered all the 
time hke a magpie, not seeming once to have the feelmg that 
we were strangers, and her face was like the reflection of sun- 
beams on the water, so radiant that it had the power of a charm, 
riveting our eyes at the time and riveting our thoughts ever since. 
She was seventeen years old, she said, but appeared two years 
younger. She could not read, because she had been sick all her 
life, and knew nothing beyond the affairs of her native village. 
Her ease and naturalness were in consequence of her ignorance, 
hke that of a child who has never learned the art of poUteness. 
If she were not talking she laughed in the same careless way ; 
was earnest if she spoke of anything serious ; and we could not 
help thinking, if the village were full of such maidens, no wonder 
the shepherds are content. She belonged to the Muottothal, 
where we afterwards learned that this nobility and brightness 
of the face was characteristic of the people, where they are never 
sad, whatever may happen and however great their misfortunes, 
and say they are descended from the Goths, who were expelled 
from Italy in the sixth century. We would go very far to look 
again on such a countenance. 

The chapel of Our Lady of the Snow upon the Kighi is also 
the resort of pilgrims, who still trust to the indulgence promised 
in 1100 to all who should ascend and assist at a fete in honor 



62 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

of the Yirgin. On the 8tli of September, the day of the 
Nativity, every path to the mountain is thronged, and for more 
than half a century pilgrims were the only worshippers who 
cHmbed the dizzy heights. Now there are ten thousand every 
year, worshippers of nature ; and the imagination cannot con- 
ceive anything more lovely than the view presented from the 
Righi Culm, when "the sun goes into gold," as they express it, 
or rises on a cloudless morning. 

This and the neighbouring mountains are covered with a net- 
work of legends connected with their religion or their history ; 
and we have heard stories of pigmies which were word for word 
like those to which we have listened in Indian wigwams.* They 
are represented as little folk with long silver beard and hair 
reaching to the earth, and wearing green coats and little caps. 
They were the special protectors of the chamois of the hills and 
the fish of the sea, and all who trespassed upon their dominions 
were sure to experience their revenge. They hved in subterra- 
nean dwellings, and came forth like apparitions and vanished as 
quickly. 

* In this or any similar remark we do not intend to compare the people to Indians, 
here or in Germany, though, as far as our own opinions are concerned, we could not 
pay them a greater compliment than by so doing. But it would be an unpardonable 
negligence not to state a resemblance like this where intercommunication could never 
have existed, and when there is no proof or suspicion of a similar origin. 




CHAPTER lY. 

UNTERWALD. 

ALPINE PASTURES — SENNHUTTEN— -CHEESE-MAKING — COWS AND THEIR BELLS 
ALPINE FESTIVALS — AGRICULTURE — FETES. 

" The pious Unterwalders." This is not only an appellation 
by which they are well known, but one by which it pleases 
them to be designated. Nowhere else in Switzerland are the 
emblems of their faith so thickly strewn on mountain and in 
valley. The cross reminds one at almost every step of Him who 
bore it, and here and there in every valley are little niches cut 
in the trunks of trees, with some image of saint or virgui im- 
bedded gracefully in foliage, and often women kneeling before 
them with a chaplet in their hands. High up on the Alps are 
seen the little chapels for the use of the shepherds, for, like the 
people of Schwytz and Uri, they too are a pastoral people. 

So early as 1308, they date their present laws concerning the 
Alpine pastures, and know that so long before this time that 
there is concerning it no record or tradition, here the shepherds 
fed their flocks. One can scarcely believe that those almost 
inaccessible heights and frightful gorges are measured and al- 
lotted with the exactness of a field or garden, and yet every 



64 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

COW has her appointed hill-top, and a goat may, at his peril, go 
browsing beyond his neighbour's limits. In different cantons 
the Alps are subject to different laws ; in some, as in Uri and 
Schwytz, belongmg to the whole land, or as in XJnterwald to 
communes and individuals, and the different pastures have names 
according to their respective merits. 

The term Alps is not applied in Switzerland to all the moun- 
tains as we see it in books and hear it from strangers. Here it 
is used to designate the pastures, and they are divided into Fore- 
aljps and Higkalps. The high Alps are the loftiest verdure-clad 
mountains, where the cows can remain only six or seven weeks 
in the middle of summer, and in some places only three or four. 
These are considered the best for milk cows. The fore Alps are 
the pastures lying along the base of the mountain, and in which 
the cows remain for some weeks before and after their sojourn 
in their summer residence. 

Individuals who own Alps either use them exclusively for 
their own cattle or rent them to those who have none, receiving 
for each cow a certain amount of money, or a certain quantity 
of milk, butter, and cheese. The pastures owned by communes 
are exactly measured and rented to so many cattle as can be 
nourished within the prescribed limits. For instance, so many 
square rods are considered necessary for a cow, and so many for 
an ox, a goat, a sheep, a horse or colt. The value of the land 
and animals is estimated, and a fixed interest paid for each. 
According to the amount of interest are the agreements con- 
cerning the building of the huts, furnishing the apparatus for 
making cheese, etc. If the interest demanded is small, the 
shepherd is expected to provide these himself ; but if he pays 
only a small interest, the owner of the pasture furnishes at least 
a portion of the conveniences. 



UNTERWALD. 65 

The persous who take care of the herds have names for which 
there is no equivalent in other languages. The principal person 
is denominated a Senn. He remains always by the hut, and 
takes the whole care of the milk. The Vice- Senn is next in 
rank and honour, and attends to transporting the products of the 
dairy, to supplying the establishment with fuel, and all that 
they need extra in the way of food. The third person is a sort 
of Valet, who waits upon them, and runs here and there, goes to 
the valleys, if necessary, and does all the cleaning outdoors and 
within the hut. Besides there is a cow-boy, who runs for the 
cows, and drives them to pasture ; and if there are sheep, a 
shepherd is added to the company, who is in some parts called 
also a Watcher. 

The hut of the Alpine shepherd cannot have changed in 
a thousand years, for no time, however primitive, can have 
seen it more simple than it is now. Sennhutten is the German 
word, and Chalets the French, for all those which are occupied by 
cheese-makers, whether they are large or small. Those which 
we see on the mountain heights are of logs, notched at the ends 
to fit together, with a roof of the same, or of shingles, kept in 
their places by stones. They are accessible to both wind and 
rain, and having no chimney, they are black with smoke, and 
make no pretensions to cleanliness. The milk-room is partly 
underground, and very dark, and so constructed, that, if possi- 
ble, it may be kept cool by rills of running water. In the prin- 
cipal room a fireplace is made by digging a cavity in the earth 
and paving it with stones, and through a hole in the roof the 
smoke makes its exit, unless, driven by a contrary wind or its 
own evil propensities, it chooses to spread itself through the 
room, which is generally the case. Over the fire is a great cop- 
per cauldron, in which the milk is always warmed before it is 



66 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

converted into Swiss elieese. They put in the rennet, and stir it 
contmually for half an hour, till it is curdled. One end of a 
cheese strainer is held over the edge of the cauldron, and with 
the other the senn dips up the curds, drains them a little, and 
puts them immediately in the press. It is no such long process 
as we have seen in other countries, where the " milk is set over 
night/^ and perhaps does not appear in the form of curds till the 
middle of the next day. The hurried process, and warming of 
the milk, makes th§ cheese hard, and give it a taste which our 
palate utterly refused to call good. By no possible training 
could we learn to eat cheese in Switzerland, notwithstanding 
their great renown. In the same smoky room with the great 
kettle, stands a tub for whey and a butter-tub ; on two poles 
hang the milk-pails, and on a bench stands a pail for the whey 
they drink instead of water. They wash the milk apparatus in 
whey, and often even their own clothes. Dippers spoons, and 
ladles lie upon a table, and there is still another tub to receive 
the mUk, till the foam is settled. 

There is a third apartment for a few pigs, which are fattened 
on the refuse of the milk-room, and over this a floor for a 
sleeping-room, where all throw themselves upon hay, and can, if 
they are sufficiently sentimental, contemplate the stars through 
the crevices in the roof. 

One senn can take care of forty or fifty cows, yet there are 
many who have only ten or twenty. They must rise with the 
first ray of dawn, and with the utmost diligence cannot finish the 
morning's labour till nearly noon ; and after the second milk- 
ing, late in the afternoon, all is again to be repeated. The 
assistants and cow-boy must be out in all weathers ; and from 
the day they ascend till they are fairly down in the valleys 
again, "ihere is no rest. 



irNTEKW.iLD. 67 

The cheeses are everywhere of two kinds, fat aud meagre. 
Into the fat ones they put all the cream, and the meagre are 
made of skimmed milk, or that from which part of the cream 
has been removed. In the whole Canton of Unterwald are 
made more than twenty thousand hundredweights of cheese every 
year, each cheese weighing from twenty-two to thii'ty-two 
pounds, and the average price being from seven to nine dollars 
a hundredweight. 

Besides butter and cheese they have five ,or six preparations 
from milk and whey, made by different processes of boiling and 
curdling, and which they denominate Zieger, Suffi, Schotte, 
Siste, etc., and with these, many of them make all the variations 
of breakfast, dinner, and supper, which they know. 

It is no slight labour to turn the great cheeses every day ; 
and the salt, instead of being put in the milk or curds, is sprin- 
kled on the outside and rubbed -in with a stiff brush. '' The 
cheese tastes much better," they say, " when the salt penetrates 
it from without." As it seems to us to taste horribly as it 
is, we cannot tell how much worse it would be if the salt 
penetrated it from within, though we are well aware that in 
our opinion we are differing from epicures in all the civilized 
world. 

In Unterwald the Alps are kno^vn by their names, and the 
number belonging to individuals which can be specified in this 
way are nearly two hundred, and those belonging to communes, 
one hundred and seventy. 

Besides these are the Allmenden, or meadows where those pas- 
ture cows who do not use the Alps, and who sell the milk in 
villages, or which are perhaps used by sennen who remain in the 
valleys. Still another kind are the Rieder, or marshy lands, 
which are worth very little ; the hay which is cut on them sell- 



68 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

ing for fifty cents a hundredweight. They are beginning to 
make them more profitable by draining. 

We see the people everywhere on the mountains gathering 
icild hmj, which grows in places utterly inaccessible to cows and 
goats, and which women and children reach at the risk of their 
lives. They make it into large bundles, and toss it down into 
the valley, and then carry it on their backs to the little stalls or 
barns, which are scattered over the hills for the purpose of stor- 
ing it. There are often severe storms even in summer, when 
the cattle cannot feed in the pastures, but must be housed and 
fed ; and often an early snow comes, which obliges them to keep 
under shelter many days. 

We have enumerated the general features of shepherd life, 
but shall now and then allude to slight variations in the differ- 
ent cantons. 

In all the Alps of Unterwald one hears at early morning and 
evening the call of the shepherd to prayers. He on whom tlie 
office devolves, stands always in the same place, and by means 
of his Alpine horn, a sort of lunnel-shaped tube of wood, rings 
a pecuUar series of changes, which echo far and wide, with a 
shrillness which only the mountain air can give. The moment 
it is heard, all commence their evening orisons, which sometimes 
consist of a few verses from the fourteenth chapter of St. John, 
or " Oar Father who art in heaven," or '' Praise God the 
Lord." If they are near a chapel, they enter ; if not, they 
kneel upon the rocks. 

The Ranz des Vaches echo from every Alpine height ; but no 
idea can be conveyed in words of the peculiarity of these moun- 
tain choruses. They are not tunes or melodies, and are not 
governed by the ordinary rules of music ; yet they have rules, 
aud in their native air are thrilling beyond description. There 



UNTEKWALD. 69 

is very little motion of the lips or mouth, and the breathing is 
scarcely perceptible. Their character varies in different parts 
of Switzerland, and corresponds to the character of the people, 
and also of individuals, being gay and lively, or sad and melan- 
choly, with the temperament of the singer and the occasion 
which calls them forth. Sometimes two or three sing together, 
and keep time and tune, but it is not usual. It is the song of 
the solitary shepherd on the hills, and invented not for commu- 
nication with men, but with the animals, who are his life-com- 
panions. The literal translation of the French and German 
word is cow rows, and evidently refers to the manner in which 
the cows arrange themselves when coming at its call. Those 
who are in the habit of marching farthest have bells, and the 
moment they hear the kuhreih they wend their steps homewards, 
and are followed by all in a row. 

When they ascend the mountains in the spring, or descend in 
the fall, it is the occasion of a grand fete, and they connect 
with it all that is possible of pomp, and show, and ceremony. 
For the largest and handsomest cow they have a large bell, 
which is selected with pecuhar reference to its tone, and the 
two cows next to her in beauty are honoured with those a little 
smaller in size, but the tones of which are sure to chime with the 
larger one. They will sometimes pay from twenty-five to thirty 
dollars for a set of these bells, which is more than they would 
think they could spend for any article for theii' own adorning. 
These they are to wear only on fete occasions. They are hung 
upon an embroidered leathern band, and the cow whose neck 
receives the largest, immediately exhibits her consciousness of 
her rank and importance ; and though it is removed whilst she 
roams in the pastures, the honour it has conferred on her of 
leading the row, when they are called morning and evening, she 



70 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALP^ 

never forgets, and should another attempt to assume this prece- 
dence, a regular battle follows, which the shepherd is often obliged 
to settle by placing the bell on her neck, that all may see that 
she is to be queen. She selects the best pastures, and beckons 
all to follow her steps. Yet it happens sometimes, that one, or 
two, or three cows remain during the whole summer rebellious, 
and are seen straying alone, in a way to show that they are 
jealous and dissatisfied, and acknowledge not the constituted 
authority. 

When the morning arrives for going to the Alps, the senn, in 
his festival dress, and a milk-dipper slung over his shoulder, 
takes the lead, singing the kuhrdh and followed by three or four 
beautiful goats. In striking contrast comes the queenly cow, with 
her proud, conscious air, making with the two who follow her a 
series of chimes with their clear-ringing bells, which they evi- 
dently appreciate and endeavour to regulate by their measured 
steps. Reversing the order of nature, the lord of the troop fol- 
lows the ladies, but the milk-stool sitting high upon his horns 
gives him a distinguished air, with which he seems satisfied ; a 
sled, with all the cheese and butter-making apparatus, brings up 
the rear, and the young men and maidens, with wreaths and gay 
ribbons, dance, and eat whey and curds together, till setting 
day reminds them to descend to their homes in the valley. 

In the autumn a similar fete, with additional ceremonies, 
takes place, when the whole troop returns for the winter. 

The rivalry of the cows will seem a fiction to those who have 
not witnessed it, but it is mentioned by those who wrote hun- 
dreds of years ago, and will be confirmed by every shepherd of 
the Alps. If they remove the bell from the queen after having 
once placed it upon her neck, she is dispirited, and will not eat. 
If they give it to another, she hooks her and persecutes her till 



UNTEKWALD. 71 

it is restored. When they have all been milked, no one ventures 
to move till she has marched forward ; and when they return, 
she is first to receive the caress of their master, who pats her 
and talks to her as if she were human and could understand his 
words. That she appreciates his love is certain, for she will 
cross any chasm and encounter any danger to answer his 
call. 

There is still, in the whole canton, no humming factory — no 
sound of hammer or loom. The products of their dairies are 
their only articles of commerce. In the winter they are em- 
ployed in felling the trees and preparing them for firewood, and 
sell every year to the amount of fifteen to twenty-five thousand 
dollars' worth. 

The cultivated land presents a curious appearance, being 
divided into regular patches in the neighbourhood of the vil- 
lages, and rented to individuals. It may remain in the same 
family for centuries, who pay an annual tax for the privilege. 
There are fields of wheat, and the usual variety of oats, peas, 
beans, and cabbage. If one dies, or moves away, his lot falls to 
the commune, and is rented to another. The grass-land is 
rented in the same way, but the lots are often many acres in 
extent. Since their introduction, potatoes have become the 
principal food, instead of the porridge which formerly appeared 
morning and evening upon the peasant's table. Bread is 
improved by spreading upon it cheese, toasted until it is soft ; 
but its digestion is considered so doubtful, even among them- 
selves, that they call it stomach jflaister, and in a song, its merits 
are wittily satu'ized as an invention to " hold body and soul 
together." 

The people are entirely Catholic, and the little kettle of holy 
water hangs, not only by every chapel and at every churchyard 



72 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

gate, but in every house, for the purpose of crossing tliemselves; 
the people, however, are remarkably intelligent concerning their 
own history and government, and none are received to the com- 
munion who cannot read and write. The law requires all to 
attend school till they are twelve years of age ; and in the high- 
school at Engelberg.are taught the usual branches of an accom- 
plished education. 

Religion enters into all their fites, and these are very many. 
The election takes place on the last Sunday in April, and with 
nearly the same ceremonies as in Uri ; the cantonal colours 
being white and red. They employ runners to carry into all 
parts of the canton the results of the election. 

Their penalties for crimes and misdemeanors retain the simpli- 
city of the olden time. Printed statute-books have yet no place 
in their judiciary system. They have no houses of correction 
for their own citizens, and say they are not rich enough to sup- 
port foreign criminals who may fall among them. All who are 
considered incorrigible are banished, which is well for their own 
land, but not exactly " doing as they would be done by " for 
their neighbours. Sometimes the punishment is reversed, and 
persons are forbidden to leave the country or their own village 
for a certain number of years. Parents who do not ''train 
their children in the way they should go," are placed upon a 
stone in a conspicuous place, with a rod in the right hand ; and 
formerly, every one who passed by was at liberty to use it upon 
their backs. So late as 1855, a father and mother were obliged 
to sit on this stone, with a paper fastened to them in front, on 
which was written, "Duty-forgetting Parents." 

A person who stole a lamp was obliged to remain during ser- 
vice in church, under the lamp. Two children who had been 
guilty of stealing, were placed in close confinement every night, 



L^NTERWALD. 73 

and for three years obliged to kneel in the same place during 
service on Sunday morning. 

In 1855, a young girl who had been guilty of immorality, was 
obliged to kneel in church during three years in a certain place, 
and forbidden to leave the village on any occasion. 

In 1851, a man who had with his wife been guilty of incen- 
diarism, was condemned to solitary confinement eight years. 
Thinking it unjust and too severe, he ran away to Berne, to 
complain of his judges. The government of Berne reproved him 
for slandering his countrymen, and obliged him to stand on a 
stone in a public place a quarter of an hour with a gag in his 
mouth, and then to go home. The wife and accomplice was 
condemned to sit a quarter of an hour on the criminal stone, 
whilst the bells rans^ and the accusation was read a2:ainst her, 
and to kneel, during Sunday service, in a conspicuous place, 
whilst the sermon was upon the sin of incendiarism ; to spend two 
years in solitary confinement, and the next four years to attend 
divine service morning and afternoon on Sundriy and every other 
festival day, and not allowed to participate in any of the duties 
and pleasures of honourable citizens. Often the punishment is 
merely to be publicly proclaimed " unworthy of respect." 
Whether it is owing to the nature of the punishments or 
the natm'e of the people, cannot be determined, but the crimes 
are few, and one can scarcely imagine anythmg more humiliating 
than these simple penalties. 

In 1150, before the destruction of the feudal castles, the can- 
ton was divided into Obwald and Nidwald, and each had its 
peculiar customs. The cantonal arms (as the reader has seen at 
the head of this chapter) are keys — in Obwald a simple one and 
in Kidwald a double one ; but in their early history they were 
always united against the common enemy. In 1798, Nidwald 

4 



74 THE COTTAGES OF THE AI.PS. 

was left to struggle almost alone, and stood 2,000 against 
15,000 French. Being attacked at several points, and the vic- 
tory becoming doubtful, old men, women and children marched 
forth, when the enemy became exasperated and delivered the 
land to fire and pillage. Among those who fell in battle were 
one hundred and two women and twenty-five children ; and the 
loss of property, from all causes, was fifteen millions of dollars. 
What a destruction in a country only twelve square leagues in 
extent I A sixth part of the people were reduced to beggary. 
They were aided generally by their brethen in Obwald, and even 
by France herself after the war was over, to recover from their 
misfortunes. And it was at this time that the renowned Pesta- 
lozzi established a school in Stanz, the capital of the canton, 
beginning at first Tsith eighty of these orphan children. Here 
he first tested his original method of teachmg, which soon 
spread over Europe. 

The guilds are retained merely as fraternal associations, and in 
Obwald one unites the members of all trades, holding only one 
annual festival. In Nidwald, the tailors and shoemakers recog- 
nize for their patron saint the Holy St. Crispin, and call them- 
selves Crisjpinians. The patron saints of locksmiths and 
weavers, and all trades that "hammer and thump," are Holy 
Francis Xavier and Johann of Xepomuk. The Holy St. 
Joseph is the patron of silversmiths and goldbeaters ; and all 
have their special days of celebration, usually in autumn or at 
the time of carnival. 

St. Wendelin and St. Antoine are the protectors of shepherds, 
and their fete, as we have said, is on the return of the troops to 
the valleys. On Sunday, they place an image of their patron 
upon the altar ; a sermon is preached in praise of pastoral life, 
and they march through tlie streets with music and colours, and 



UNTERWALD. T5 

bearing prodigious artificial bouquets. Three persons, dis« 
guised as "genii of the mountains,^' sweep the streets in advance 
of the procession with great branches of pine. The origin of 
these wild men, as they call them , is not known, but they pro- 
bably date from the time when good and evil spirits were sup- 
posed to people earth and au' and water. They all meet at an 
inn for a dinner, when speeches are made interweaving events of 
their history, and the wild men make a formal present to the 
Capuchins, who are always present, of two little cheeses, weigh- 
ing about two pounds, and so dry and hard that they cannot be 
eaten, and receive gifts in return. After dinner, the procession 
forms again, and a distribution of valuable gifts is made to the 
poor. The second day are dances and other sports. The festi- 
val is called the " AlperkilwiJ^ 

The Avresthng matches, which have become so famous, origin- 
ated in Unterwald, and are still their especial national /e^e. On 
the 26th of July and the 10th of August, they assemble upon 
different heights of the Alps, and in the midst of a concourse of 
spectators perform various feats of wrestling, which require 
much skill and practice. There are ten methods of throwing an 
adversary. Each is allowed three trials, and he who brings his 
adversary upon his back twice in the three times, is victor. 
Their costume is but a slight addition to that of nature, as their 
limbs must be allowed the freest play. On meeting, they shake 
hands, and exchange congratulations and wishes of success. In 
one village of Berne and one of Luzerne are held similar fetes, 
when wrestlers from the three cantons enter the lists as 
rivals. 

There exist associations of women, who endeavor to understand 
the spiritual and mystical, called "Gotti," and innumerable 
" brotherhoods," for all manner of study and pleasure, besides 



76 TflE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

pilgrimages to Einsiedeln, with banners and crosses, and the 
ordinary festivals of the Catholic Church. 

Some legend or superstition is linked with every village, valley, 
and chapel ; and the land, not being so extensively rummaged by 
travellers, retains more of its primitive simplicity. Engelberg, 
they say, was formerly inhabited by evil spirits, who were driven 
forth by the angels, and thus received its name. 

Drachenried, near Stanz, was once the abode of a monstrous 
serpent, which became so formidable that the inhabitants aban- 
doned the valley and gave it the name of Oedwyl, a wilderness 
or desolate place. There had lived in the land a valiant man, 
who had distinguished himself in the wars and had been made 
chevalier, but having the misfortune to kill another in a duel, he 
was banished, as this was then a crime, because it deprived the 
state of a brave man. In his exile he heard of the ravages of 
the serpent, and begged permission to return upon condition that 
he should slay the monster. It was granted. He entered the 
valley, attacked the serpent, and finally destroyed him by thrust- 
ing a lance armed with thorns down his throat. But in the 
combat he received a wound which terminated his own life. A 
chapel was erected to his memory, and on its walls we read. To 
Struth yon Winkelried. 

At certain times in the year, the names of all those who have 
fallen in battle or the service of their country are mentioned in 
church, that the youth may grow up with a knowledge of the 
sacrifices which purchased them their present blessings. 

In Unterwald, one misses the milestones and sign-posts which 
in other parts of Switzerland stand by every high road and 
mountain path. When we ask, *' Why is this ?" they say, " It 
was the ancient law, that travellers should be guided on their 
way by the people free of charge." Whether it is the law now 



UNTERWALD. 77 

or not, it is the custom, and one they seem to enjoy rather than 
to consider a burden. 

It is a continual source of wonder, why the people in the dif- 
ferent cantons should be so unlike in some respects and in others 
so nearly resemble each other. There will appear now and then 
a custom common to the whole country, and another confined to 
one little valley or district. 

In the story of the destruction of the castles, we read that 
the surprise was effected by a young girl admitting her lover to 
her room by a ladder, and an Enghsh guide-book remarks, that 
this is still the fashion of receiving lovers in Switzerland. Refer- 
ence is had to the manner of wooing, which in some cantons is 
called '^ Lichtgttrtn^'' in others ^^ Dorfen^^ and " Stubetegetren,^^ 
and answers to the old-fashioned going a courting in England. 
The customs connected with it vary in different cantons, but 
exist in some form in all except two or three, which will be 
noticed elsewhere. 




CHAPTER y. 

LUCERNE. 

ANCIENT LAWS AND CUSTOMS — CITY OF LUCERNE SOCIAL LIFE— ASCENT 

OF THE RIGHI — ANCIENT PROCESSION — WEDDINGS. 

Lucerne is the fourth of the forest cantons lying on the sea, and 
so early as t68 was known as a city. 

In no country are the chronicles so abundant as in Switzer- 
land. Centuries before the art of printing was known, they 
were in the habit of preserving a record of events, not only to 
be placed in archives, but as heirlooms for the family. They 
present a most curious compendium of the history of the social 
development of the people. We read not only the acts of gov- 
ernment concerning ''state and diplomatic affairs," but its atten- 
tion to the most minute of social duties, the details of dress, and 
the preparation of dinners. 

The city of Lucerne has now a population of more than ten 
thousand, but the canton is much larger than during the days 
of its early history. The name is said to be derived from the 
Latin word lucerna, meaning a lantern, which was hung by the 
water for the boatmen who went up and down in the night. It 
remained in possession of the monks, to whom it was secured by 

78 



LrCERNE. T9 

France, till the thirteenth century, when they sold twenty castles 
and bailifdoms, "with all rights and privileges pertaining thereto ," 
to Rudolph of Hapsburg. When the three cantons were at war 
with Austria, Lucerne was continually involved in their quarrels, 
till at length, weary of the tyranny of the bailiffs, it formed an 
alliance with Uri, Schywtz, and Unterwald, making the four 
forest cantons, which henceforth stood side by side in their strug- 
gles for independence. 

It has been the custom from the earliest times to preserve all 
trophies of victories, and to repeat the names of those who have 
deserved their country's gratitude, in order to be sure that the 
children grow up with a knowledge of these things. Among 
them is an old stove, which stood in the guild-room of the 
Butchers in 1332, when some patricians planned to deliver the 
city to the Austrians. A little boy had heard their plot acci- 
dentally, but was made to swear that he would not reveal it ; 
yet, determined to save his country, he escaped and ran to the 
guild-room, where several butchers were assembled, and without 
speaking to any one made the following address to the stove : 
" stove, I say to thee, that there are armed men, who plot to 
massacre all who counselled alliance with the three cantons. I 
have sworn to tell no person, so I make thee my confidant, O 
stove I" The alarm was immediately given, and the city saved. 

The battle of Sempach was on their soil, and never a year has 
failed to see it celebrated with all due pomp and ceremony. 

The whole canton is Catholic, and some eight or ten monas- 
teries still exist, though many have from time to time been 
secularized by the government. 

Lucerne took the lead in the war of the Sonderlund in 1847, 
in opposition to the Federal Government ; and was for many 
years governed herself by an oligarchy, composed of patricians. 



80 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

who oppressed the people and kept the country subject to the 
city. But in 1848 they submitted to the new Federal Govern- 
ment, and revised their own constitution after the most demo 
cratic model. 

The Jesuits endeavoured to obtain possession of the schools, 
but were expelled by a majority of the people ; and the state 
has ever kept the priesthood in subjection, in defiance of all the 
thunders of the Vatican. In 13 tO, in order that the clergy 
should not be controlled by any foreign power, a law was 
enacted requiring every clergyman to swear "to consult no 
foreign judge, either spiritual or worldly, on penalty of losing 
all protection of the law and all the enjoyments and privileges 
of society." In 1609, a tax was levied on all ecclesiastical pro- 
perty, against which the Pope, priests and cloisters protested ; 
yet the government remained firm, and so late as the eighteenth 
century, we read of the clergy being pubhcly reproved and 
punished by law, in spite of a bull from Rome. Yet the people 
are not less devotedly attached to their religion than their free- 
dom, and would defend both with their lives. 

There is a school in every commune, and in the city various 
institutions for pursuing the study of the higher branches of 
education. The fine arts are more cultivated than in any other 
canton, and music and painting diffused more generally among 
all classes of society. 

There is more affability in Lucerne among the people, and 
pleasant reunions for sociality are more common than in the other 
cities. They are said to have originated in 1690 by a family 
who had three sons in France in military service, and who, when 
they returned, introduced Parisian habits. They had every 
week little unceremonious parties, and dinners upon the same 
principle, where eating and drinking were not the one grand con- 



LTJCERNE. 81 

sideration, but conversation and innocent amusement. We read 
in their chronicles, that before the year 1700 they began to 
have curtains to the beds and windows — to have mirrors and 
pictures in the parlours, and the chairs cushioned and painted. 

Specimens of the old houses without chimneys, and roofs with 
shingles and great stones, and little panes of glass a few inches 
in circumference, are still to be seen ; but the new ones are 
large, with good fireplaces and windows, which make the rooms 
light and pleasant. Everywhere in these four cantons the walls 
and ceiling overhead have panels instead of plaister, and are 
painted white, or pink, or yellow, according to the taste of the 
owners. The paint is often of the most beautiful brilliancy, 
shining like glass, and gives a remarkably neat appearance, as 
it is more easily kept clean than paper or stucco. 

Meat is not yet common among the country people, except on 
Sundays and festival days. Oatmeal porridge was formerly a 
great dish, and the usual breakfast and dinner of the peasantry; 
now they add roast potatoes and milk, and among those in com- 
fortable circumstances, coffee is drank three times a day. For 
dinner they have potatoes, fruit, pear or apple sauce, bread and 
milk, and sometimes in the evening bread and cider. 

It was a Spanish minister who introduced coffee in the 
seventeenth century, and sugar was known immediately after- 
wards. Tea is not mentioned till 1666, but beer so early as 
1590, and is now very common everywhere. In 1687 it is 
recorded they began to drink tobacco, as it was then universally 
denominated, instead of smoking, and the peasantry are always 
to be seen with a pipe in their mouths, the same as in Germany. 

They are not an entirely pastoral people, but a portion of 
them are devoted to agriculture ; and great enterprise has been 
displayed in draining marshes and bringing water to irrigate 

4* 



82 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

sandy soil. In 1806 the Lake of Sempach was dug many feet 
deeper, to win land upon its shores ; and since then two or three 
others have been brought into narrow limits in the same way. 

The canton is twelve leagues in length and ten in breadth, and 
the cattle within its limits are estimated at about fifteen hundred 
thousand, and the cheese at five hundred thousand, dollars. 
These cantons, on an average, are not so large as the counties 
in the different States of America, yet what a population of 
men and animals is concentrated within their boarders ! Every- 
where are to be seen great fields of rye and great orchards of 
fruit, and the modern improvements in agriculture are very 
generally adopted. 

There are more manufactures than in the other forest cantons, 
though not so many as in Zurich, but several for gloves and 
paper, and in the country the leisure is devoted to braiding 
straw. 

The first printing-press in Switzerland was established in Lucerne 
in 1410, and from here one was transferred to Paris by a Swiss, 
in whose honour the French hold a fete every year at Sarbonne. 
The guilds no longer exist in the canton except as associations 
for improvement and the convenience of festivals, every person 
being allowed to make shoes or print books, sell tape or dis- 
pense " apothecary stuff," according to his taste or interest ; 
and the forests are also free to all who wish to hunt. 

We ascended the Righi from the village of Weggis, which 
belongs to Lucerne, though from its position one would think it 
should belong to Schwytz, as do all the other points from which 
paths lead, culminating at the top. Our guide was the personifi- 
cation of good nature, and had a bright intelligent face, so that 
we chatted with him for very pleasure. Those were his father's 
cows in the pastures through which we passed, and the merry 



LUCERNE. 83 

chime of their bells inspired him to sing for us the Ranz des 
Vaches, and the echoes rang far and wide among the hills. 
They did not make cheese, but sold the milk, as the number of 
cows they owned was not enough to make it the most profitable. 
He owned two horses, on one of which we were being jolted 
and jagged ; and did scarcely anything else in the summer but 
accompany travellers on the mountain. '' And what do you do 
in the winter ?" we asked, " I cut wood to sell." — " Do you 
own a wood-lot?" ''Yes; several." — "Have you a wife?" 
'' Yes, eine Frau und drei Kinder" (a wife and three children). 
—" And what do they ?" " My wife spins cotton sometimes 
and combs silk." This we afterwards heard was the employment 
of many in this village, where there are pretty cottages with 
green blinds ; a three-story schoolhouse, also painted white ; 
and blooming gardens, in which flourish chestnuts, almonds and 
figs, because they are sheltered from all winds in a little niche 
of the mountain. The silk is brought from Italy, and dis- 
tributed in all the forest cantons to be prepared for the weavers 
of Zurich and Bale. We see people with great packs of it on 
their shoulders, or hanging by the windows in hanks, threads 
and snarls of it lykg on the floor, as we have been accustomed 
to see tow, and this we may also see in Lucerne. 

About half a mile from the top of the mountain is the 
Chapel of Maria, of the Kalt-lad, derived from a cold spring, 
which bursts from the earth near by, called the Sister^s Born, 
and concerning which the legend says, that in the time of 
William Tell, three sisters fled from the tyranny of the Austrian 
bailiff, and hid in a cave on the Righi. Not even the shepherds 
knew of their concealment. They lived on roots and berries, 
and drank water. In the valley they were quite forgotten, and 
believed to be dead. But one day three stars appeared over^ 



84 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

this place and stood still, filling the heavens with their bright- 
ness. They visited the spot, and found the bodies of the 
sisters. 

A peasant once saw a dragon flying from the Kighi to the 
Pilatus, and something monstrous fell from under his wings. He 
went to the spot and found a large stone, which to this day has 
wonderful healing powers. 

The Pilatus is still higher than the Kighi, and more won- 
derful in its history and traditions. By the people it is 
believed to derive its name from Pontius Pilate, whose re- 
morse drove him to this solitary place, whence he plunged into 
the lake. It is the special abode of pigmies, dragons, and evil 
spirits. 

At one time there lived on one of its heights a rich man, 
named Klaus. He had a poor cousin, whose daughter, Magda- 
len, came to him one day, saying her mother was sick, and 
wanted a piece of cheese. He refused, and sent her away. 
She had a lover, named Alois, who kept his herds on a neigh- 
bouring hill. She went to hun, aiid he gave her all he had ; 
but as she descended a steep, she made a false step, and her 
cheese went rolling to the bottom of the valley. She sat down 
and wept bitterly ; but a slight pull at her sleeve caused her to 
look up, and she saw a little man in a green coat and long 
beard, with a piece of cheese on his shoulder, and some moun- 
tain-weed in his hand. It was the hour of twilight, and he 
spoke softly to her, and said : "I know what has happened to 
you ; take this cheese, and make of this weed a tea for your 
sick mother, and she will be well. Be patient, and you will 
have your cheese again." He vanished, and Magdalen hurried 
home to her mother, for whom she made the tea, and saw her 
immediately restored to health. When they cut the cheese, 



LUCEENE. 85 

they found it gold. With this, they purchased large Alpine 
pastures. Magdalen became the wife of Alois, and they lived 
to see the old miser as poor as they had been. 

The stories are innumerable of the revenge of the pigmies upon 
those who hurt chamois and catch fish in the lake. A bailiff of 
Lucerne, in 1592, swore on his conscience that he had always 
longed to see a pigmy ; and one day, when he was fishing for trout 
at the foot of the Pilatus, something jumped upon his neck and 
pushed liim in the water, saying, " You also destroy and drive 
away my animals." He succeeded in reaching the shore again, 
but was always lame. 

The steamers which ply on the lake belong also to a com- 
pany in Lucerne. They are very pretty and neatly finished. 
The captain of one of them told us that they take on an average 
above five hundred dollars every summer from passengers alone. 
To go through from one extreme of the lake to the other, 
making the usual stops by the way, requires five hours, and 
there are four daily boats. In winter, there is only one, for 
the mail. The captain said his salary was equal to four hun- 
dred and thirty dollars a year. 

"We experienced here one of those instances of exaction for 
which the people have become so famous, and which impartiahty 
requires us to record, though those instances were few, as far 
as we are concerned. 

Having walked about the city, we arrived at the boat before 
some other members of our party, and wishing to be sure to see 
them the instant they appeared, we seated ourselves on the por- 
tion of the deck devoted to second-class passengers. Yery soon 
we were rudely ordered to rise, and the bench was taken away. 
We moved to another quarter, and soon received the same com- 
mand in the rudest accents, accompanied by the rudest manner. 



86 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

They pretended to need all the deck for some horses, which were 
being transported also over the St. Gotthard. At length we 
took a movable chair, and made ourselves comfortable in a 
little nook by the stairs. From this we were almost pushed 
overboard, and at the same tune informed that only first-class 
passengers were allowed those seats. We now for the first 
tune understood the motive of so much insolence. From 
strangers they expected the first-class price, and determined to 
have it by obliging us to go to the first-class deck. This was 
proved soon afterwards by some peasants taking the same seats 
and retaining them unmolested. We had not thought of re- 
maining among the horses, cows, and Bauersleute, any longer 
than till our friends should arrive ; but not liking compulsion in 
a matter which should leave each person free, we determined to 
remain, and demanded a seat. It was granted : but when the 
fare was collected, we were presented a first-class ticket, and only 
just before we were to land, so that there was no time for 
parley or proof. Besides, no person would think of resisting a 
second time in Switzerland, whatever injustice he might experi- 
ence, unless he was willing to stay for a regular court trial, 
which, we have no doubt, would decide justly even to the utter- 
most farthing. But the people have lost none of their warlike 
propensities, and in all their quarrels, with one another or with 
strangers, their first impulse is, to " knock everybody down." In 
one of the Zurich journals we saw a remonstrance against the com- 
pany who manage the Berne and Thun Kailroad, which forms a 
line with the boats to Interlaken and through the Lake Brienz. 
The custom was to give return-tickets to persons making excur- 
sions, and these had been refused. In the course of the discus- 
sion it came out that they had made a mistake. Their usual 
discrunination had failed, and they had denied to some of their 



LUCERNE. 87 

own countrymen an accommodation they intended only to 
deny to strangers. 

While our fairylike boat is dancing on the waters, we are 
reminded of a grand nautical procession which took place on 
this same little lake more than two centuries ago, when a depu- 
tation was sent from Lucerne to meet the representatives from 
Uri, Schwytz, and Unterwald, who were to have also in their 
company the deputies from Yalais, to form or to cement their 
federal alliance. It was the grandest affair for those times of 
which we find any record, and the remembrance of it is still hon- 
oured among their festivals. 

In two large boats embarked the honourable members of the 
council and servants of the government. In twelve smaller ones, 
bearing the names of the twelve months of the year, were other 
distinguished persons ; and as a guard of the little flotilla, two 
hunting ships. The officers on board each wore the federal 
colours, and upon the ships of honour were twelve little boys in 
the oldest costume of the country, and long plumes waving from 
their little black caps. Flags w^ere flying upon every tower and 
pinnacle of the city, and six hundred soldiers stood upon the 
bridges and wharves to fire salutes upon their departure. In the 
midst of great rejoicings they set sail, the two hunting ships in 
front, followed by the first ship of honour, and six of the second 
rank. Then the second ship of honour, with the remaining six 
in its rear. So they sailed to the little town of Altstadt, where 
they met their guests, who immediately came on board, and they 
returned, having the large ships in the centre, with the six 
smaller ones forming a half moon on each side. 

On arriving again on shore a procession was formed with ban- 
ners and music, conductmg them through all the streets, the 
little boys always in front. For supper they were disposed in 



88 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

two hotels with six members of the council in each party. The 
next morning, at six o'clock, all were again in grand procession, 
with trumpets, and drums, and music, on their way to the colle- 
giate church, to consecrate their alliance by solemn religious 
ceremonies. The banners of seven states were arranged round 
the altar, which was also beautifully decorated. The music was 
performed by eight instruments and a choir of voices, and twelve 
pieces of artillery announced the commencement of service. A 
sermon was preached by the high priest, and then the oath 
administered to the deputies with their hands on the holy book. 
When this is finished the bells peal forth, the artillery is again 
fired, and a Te Deum sung, and the procession again moves 
forth to the Council House, w^here the long mantles of the 
magistrates are removed by servants, and they descend to the 
cornhouse underneath to partake of the grand dinner given on the 
occasion. Here in a great hall are sixteen tables set wholly with 
silver. Nothing can be more curious than the details of such a 
dinner, but we have rooms for only a few. The servants were 
some of them merely to occupy posts of honour in different parts 
of the room, and others to wait and tend. In all, they num- 
bered twelve hundred and seventeen ! 

The guests remained three days, and the dinner was every day 
equally sumptuous. The several courses are chronicled with all 
the minutiae of venison, fish, and poultry. The items of one 
dinner will give an idea of an entertainment of this kind in those 
economical times when people did not spend their money fool- 
ishly, but lived in beautiful simplicity I 

First dinner — first course. 

Twenty-two principal dishes ; side dishes, two peacocks, twelve 
Welsh hens, eight English pies, twenty-four boiled capons with 
sausages, twenty-four dove-soups, twenty-four tongues with sau- 



LUCERNE. 89 

sages, twenty-four marrow tarts, twenty-four mixed dishes of 
veal, twenty-four of venison, twenty-four of fowl, and twenty- 
four of beef. 

Second course. Six Welsh pies, twelve large stuffed stag- 
joints, eight joints of venison, twenty-four roast capons, twenty- 
four dishes of roast fowl, twenty-four of game, seventy-two 
dishes of something of which we can by no inquiry or study 
learn the name or composition, twenty-four dishes of salad, 
twenty-four of plums. 

Third course. Six plates of sugar-work, consisting of two 
castles, two triumphal arches, and two wall-fish ; eight cold 
game-pies, eight fancy puff-cakes, twenty-four almond tarts, 
twenty-four of crabs, twenty-four of sugar-bread, twenty-four 
of candy-confectionery, seventy-two of different sugar-work 
cakes. 

To each course were two hundred and fourteen dishes, besides 
the wine and beer, and each day saw an equal number. When 
the " gracious Herren " had been feasted three days after this 
fashion, and the whole city had been put in requisition to do 
them honour, they returned home, no doubt highly gratified 
with the attention paid them ; if not, they must have been very 
difficult to please. 

The number of festivals in modern tunes has somewhat duni- 
nished, but there are still very many. 

The Kirchweih or church consecration, which is still celebrat- 
ed in some form in all Catholic communities in Germany and 
Switzerland, we find to have been of much more consequence in 
the early times, and to have cost the city every year eight hun- 
dred dollars. isTow it is reduced to a simple procession and 
dance. 

The shooting festivals originated in 1452 and continued till 



90 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

the seventeenth century, when they were allowed to fall into 
disuse ; but in the eighteenth century they are again revived in 
more than their original consequence. 

New Year's day is scarcely noticed. Christmas, which is 
everywhere else celebrated on the 25th of December, is solem- 
nized in Lucerne on the 6th, Michaelmas Day — for what reason 
we cannot learn. Those who go from house to house to inquire 
concerning the behaviour of children, are a procession of boys, one 
of whom is arrayed as a bishop, accompanied by two angels, 
followed by a person dressed in black with his face painted of 
the same colour. He carries also a black bag, and threatens 
all naughty children to tie them up and carry them off. But 
this is being superseded by the simple custom of placing gifts 
upon a table to surprise the httle folks in the morning. 

The harvest, threshing, raising and taking possession of a new 
house, are marked by some festal scene. 

Nearly all the peasant-marriages take place at carnival, and 
most of them also on Monday. If they come from a neighbour- 
ing village to church, the bells announce the arrival of the pro- 
cession, and a curious spectacle of old and new-fashioned vehicles, 
with people in all manner of gala dresses, presents itself. The 
bride enters first with wreath and white apron ; an old woman 
follows her, who is mistress of ceremonies, and who is called 
Gdhe, or yellow woman. She has on her arm a basket, in order 
to take the bridal wreath after the ceremony. Next come the 
women of the party. Behind them is the bridegroom in a black 
mantle, his hat in his hand and a little knot of flowers on the 
top of his head ; then the men of the party. Mass is said, and 
music gives the signal for the bridal pair to stand before the 
altar. After being pronounced husband and wife, they return 
to an inn for merry-making, which is commenced by the bride- 



LUCERNE. 91 

groom dancing three times with the bride, when the ydloio 
woman takes the bridal wreath and bouquet of the bridegroom 
and throws them upon the fire, and derives from the manner m 
which they burn an omen of happiness or unhappiness for their 
future hfe. She then presents each guest with a pocket-hand- 
kerchief from the bride, and receives for her gifts in return. 
They each drink and are merry till night, when the immediate 
neighbours accompany the bride to her new home. She is then 
confided to the yellow woman, who remains a long time with her 
in secret council, and fulfills the office oifemme de chamlre. 

The Kiltgang is the universal mode of wooing ; the lover 
visiting his betrothed in the evening, to be pelted on the way by 
all mischievous urchins ; or if he is seated quietly with her by 
the winter fire, they are sure to be serenaded by all manner of 
cat voices under the window, which are continued till he issues 
forth, perhaps at dawn in the morning ; and however long may 
be a courtship, these caterwaulings are the invariable attendants, 
and not the most lamentable consequences of those nightly visits, 
recognized, however, as entirely respectable and conventional in 
every canton. 

But there is one custom, which is pecuho.r to Lucerne, and 
which is mentioned in the oldest descriptions of the people. 
Like many another, it is also confined to one part of the canton, 
and distinguishes the people of Entlibuch in the southern limits, 
where they are said to be the livehest, wittiest, and gayest of 
all the people in Switzerland. They indulge in a continued 
series of gymnastics, theatricals, masquerades, and poesies. 
They quarrel very often, but make peace again immediately, 
because they do not like the interference of courts and lawyers. 
Being given to amusmg themselves at others' expense, they learn 
also to bear ridicule without anger. 



92 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

After divine service on the last Monday of carnival, they 
assemble before the townhouse in each commune to listen to a 
poem, which is recited by some village wit, and the special 
object of which is to satirize the follies and foibles of any per- 
son who may have subjected himself to such reproof ; and often 
it is many, instead of one, who see themselves thus portrayed. 
No names are called, and the whole may be a caricature, yet 
each one recognises himself, and is at the same time recognised 
by all. The poet arrives on horseback in some strange cos- 
tume, and wearing a great hat ornamented with flowers and 
looking-glasses. The magistrates receive him and offer him wine 
as testimony of honour. He then descends from his horse, and, 
taking from his bosom a large paper bearing the seal of Entli- 
buch, begins his recital. However severely any one may be 
lashed, he makes no demonstration, but the orator is said to 
make sure of his way home before the sun has set ; else he may 
experience tangible proof of the revenge of some luckless swain. 




CHAPTER YI. 



ZUG. 



PLEASANT CUSTOM CHURCHYARD FIRST BATTLE FOR FREEDOM — HOME 

SICKNESS OF SWISS SOLDIERS — "WITCHCRAFT — FORMS OF PUNISHMENT. 

Zdg is a " very little city," so small that one can scarcely believe 
it has the honour to be an " independent republic." On the map 
it is altogether an invisible power. One enters its territory, 
and, before he can think, is out of it, unless he decides to stop 
by the way. This almost any one would be tempted to do who 
should happen to be greeted in their friendly way, in some lone 
place, without knowing that it is the custom, and practised the 
same for all. 

Wherever they meet a stranger they offer him the hand, and 
in so cordial a manner that one is troubled to know how to 
receive it. Our first experience of it was when walking in the 
street, as some httle girls came running out of school, and one 
after the other each offered her hand, looking very playful and a 
little mischievous, as if they thought it were an old fashioned 
custom which we should not understand, and yet which they 
could not neglect. We did not understand, to be sure, but 



94: THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

thought at first they were little beggars asking for pennies, but 
soon learned that thej were little friends, who knew us at a 
glance to be strangers, and gave us this pleasant welcome. We 
returned it as cordially, and they ran skipping, and hopping, 
and laughing, away. But it is something to be treasured for 
ever in the memory, and disposes us so kmdly to the people that 
we are in danger of shutting our eyes to all their faults. 

There is a quiet cheerfulness in their manners, which is differ- 
ent from the gaiety of Entlibuch and the vivacity of the inhabi- 
tants of the Muottathal, but which is not less charming. They 
are Catholics, like their neighbours, but less superstitious, though 
not less devout. The cemetery testifies to the honour they pay 
the dead, and the taste which characterizes the living. Almost 
every grave is a flower-bed, kept always in the freshest bloom, 
and the gilt cross which marks its head is hung with wreaths. 
Each grave has also some testimonial to the honourable birth and 
condition of those who repose beneath. They have adopted for 
their government one which gives the utmost freedom, but have 
lost none of their respect for '' old families." This is observable 
everywhere in Switzerland, and in some cases amounts to most 
ridiculous inconsistency and folly. There can be no sin and no 
harm in possessing a long line of noble ancestors, but, as Bulwer 
somewhere says, '' It is the founder of a family who is most hon- 
oured," he who by some striking and noble deed first won renown ; 
and it is equally true, that it is often the last of a noble name 
who least deserves respect. 

In this little churchyard armorial bearings are to be seen 
upon the humblest tomb. There is here no such rushing tide of 
human events to wash away the past with its memories as we 
see in the New World, and no such opportunity to acquire in- 
fluence in a new way. They therefore cling to the old, and rest 



ZUG. 



95 



their pride on what their fathers did, instead of doing something 
for themselves. 

It was the soil of this little canton which first received the 
baptismal blood of freedom at Morgarten ; her sons have 
ever been among the bravest in every land, and she has gone 
hand in hand in all things with the forest cantons, yet, from 
some reason, she is far less known, and her name appears not so 
often in song and story. 

There are still ruins of old castles on the mountain crests, but 
they have shown a utihtarian spirit we have not elsewhere ob- 
served, in transferring the stones of one to build a school-house 
in the city. It is composed almost entirely of the old walls of 
Hiinenburg, and has stood in its present form and capacity since 
1114. The story of the destruction of Waldenburg is related 
elsewhere, but there is another version of it among the traditions 
of the people, which shows equally the rudeness of the times and 
the hatred of those who ruled over them. 

The servant was one day sent to market to buy meat. When 
a piece was cut for him, he said it was not such an one as would 
please his master. The butcher asked him to mark the place 
from which he should take a slice, and his hand was no sooner 
stretched forth in obedience to the request than it was severed 
by the axe and thrown with the meat into the basket. " Isow, 
see if that suits your lord," was the injunction with which he 
went howling home. The Lord of Waldenburg swore vengeance 
against the city,*but the time was past when his oaths caused 
the people to tremble. He was himself afraid, and fled to Zu- 
rich, taking care to conceal his way by having the shoes on his 
liorse's feet turned backwards. 

At the battle of Sempach the might of Austria was broken^ 
and the familv of Hiinenburg, which was also that of Walden- 



yb THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

burg, hung no more together. Many laid aside their family 
name and became burghers of the city, and others emigrated to 
distant lands. Having lost their importance, they preferred 
not to remain where they would be reminded of their lost power, 
and sold all that was left to them, to become exiles and stran- 
gers in the homes of their fathers. 

In Zug, the people bought the land inch by inch. Every one 
who contributed became a member of the commune, and those 
who had no money gave a bed, a kettle, a little grain, some 
clothes, the most trifling objects they could part with, the small- 
est piece of coin, it was the price of their freedom ; and the 
names of women and little children appear on the list of those 
who would thus purchase themselves for ever free from feudal 
tenure. 

In 1435, a third part of the city was submerged in the sea. 
A slight shock from an earthquake had previously produced 
large fissures in the walls, and made the houses tremble, so that 
the people had left the shore of the lake ; but, no further evil 
consequences ensuing, they returned one day, and the same 
night the water covered them. The superstitious said '*' fish 
had undermined the foundations," and the story is not yet quite 
obsolete. A cradle was found floating on the water the next 
morning with a little boy lying snugly in its pillows, unconscious 
of the calamities which had deprived him of home and friends, and 
equally so that he was not rocking for his own pleasure on the 
waves. He afterwards became mayor of the city. 

War and pestilence have also swept over them, and from the 
battle of St. Jacob, to which two hundred had gone from Zug, 
not one returned. But nothing could wean them from the love 
of arms ; and it has been often the case, that so many have been 
absent in foreign lands that not enough were left to till tbe soil 



zuG. 97 

aud perform the necessary niechanical labour. Of the two thou- 
sand, eight hundred who went into the service of Yenice against 
the Grand Turk in 1688, all but one hundred and seventy-eight 
died of pestilence and horae-sickness. They were not allowed to 
form separate corps under their own colours, and it broke 
their hearts. Zurlauben, the leader of one brave company of 
two hundred men, came with nineteen and a soiled banner 
home. 

The same custom obtains, as in the forest cantons, of repeat- 
ing in church at certain periods the names of those who had 
fallen in battle, or on any field died gloriously. 

The home-sickness, of which we read in the regiments of France, 
was not confined to them alone. In every country they pine for 
thek mountains, and the Ranz des Vackes, when sung on the 
plains of Italy, or to the time of the " gondola's dipping oar," 
had the same influence as in the gardens of Paris. They would 
become emaciated, and in a few days exhibit all the effects of a 
long illness. It is a wonderful proof of the power of mind over 
body ; for there could be no affectation in their case. It was a 
prostration which they could not control; but often the assurance 
that the next day they should have the money to go home, gave 
a man strength to rise and walk. The musical Kuhreihen has no 
words ; but one who has seen the Alpine shepherds with their 
flocks can easily imagine the thoughts that would accompany the 
notes in a foreign land. An English poet has clothed them in 
the following rhymes : 



Oh, when shall I visit the land of my birth, 
The loveliest land on the face of the earth ? 
5 



98 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

When shall I those scenes of aflfectioa explore, 
Our forests, our fountains, 
Our hamlets, our mountains, 
With the pride of our mountains, the maid I adore 
when shall I dance on the daisy-white mead, 
In the shade of an elm, to the sound of the reed? 

II. 

" When shall I return to that lowly retreat, 
Where all my fond objects of tenderness meet? 
The lamb and the heifers that follow my call. 
My father, my mother. 
My sister, my brother, 
And dear Isabella, the joy of them all ? 
when shall I visit the land of my birth, 
'Tis the loveliest land on the face of the earth ?" 



** Ah, when shall I see once more 
All the objects I adore ! 

Our limpid rills, 
Our hills, our vills, 
Our mounts sublime ! 
Pride of our clime, 
The so gentle Isabeau ! 
Beside the Elm — beside its flow. 
Again when shall I on the ground 
Dance to the reeds' delightful sound ? 



" Ah, when shall I see once more 
All the objects I adore — 

My father, my mother. 
My sister, my brother — 



zuG. 99 

My lambkin's caress — 

Spread over the mead, 
My flocks at feed — 
My shepherdess ! 
Ah, when shall I see once more 
All the objects I adore ?" 

The canton is but little more than ten square leagues in 
extent, and yet has a population greater than TJri, which is 
four times its size ; and they are nearly all a pastoral people. 
On many of the old houses are quaint inscriptions and hideous 
paintings, which contrast strangely with the modern hfe of the 
people. There are few traces of the ancient costume, except on 
fete days, when the maidens appear in their green petticoats and 
red stockings, with knots of ribbons and gay streamers, and the 
dance does not interfere with their religion, or jar with their 
devotions. Theu' festivals, and the principal features of life, are 
the same as in the forest cantons ; but in the days that are 
past, those dark days of superstition and ignorance, the 
little Zug was even more guilty than they, in accusing falsely 
and inventing tortures. 

The belief in witches is the most marvellous of all human 
infatuation ; and the funeral pile of the Hindoo, and the crush- 
ing wheel of the Juggernaut, have no more revolting history 
than the dungeons and guillotines of every Christian land in the 
seventeenth century. It was not enough that they were cut off 
by the sword, by famine, and pestilence, they were murdered by 
hundreds on their own free soil. In the course of two months 
in the year 1660 more than two thousand were burnt for this 
imaginary crime in this one little canton. 

In 1*137, a weak-minded young girl, only seventeen years old, 
returned from a visit to Lucerne, where she was honoured by a 



100 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

conference with the Jesuits, and represented herself as a witch. 
This gave her the power to testify against others, and in conse- 
quence of her base assertion, ten persons were condemned to 
death ; eight of whom were women, one aged seventy years and 
another only eighteen. Six of them were burned or strangled 
after having their flesh torn with glowing tongs. Those who 
confessed themselves guilty, experienced sometimes an alleviation 
of their punishment. One old woman, who would not confess, 
was thrown into a dungeon little better than a grave, where she 
was also put to the torture, and where she finally died of cold 
and hunger. 

Many of those instruments of torture are still to be seen, and 
it is not very many years since some of them were used, though 
not to punish witchcraft. The rooms are still in the darkness 
of night. No ray from without penetrated them when witches 
were their tenants, and neither the beams of day nor the light 
of Christian sympathy and knowledge have ameliorated the con- 
dition of those who are now condemned to punishment in the 
old " Kaiben tower." The cells are a sort of wooden chests, 
perfectly dark; and in order that the criminals who occupy them 
may preserve no knowledge of time, those who bring food, and 
who must necessarily have a lamp or candle in order to grope 
their way, are commanded to enter at irregular hours, but to 
come all seasons of day and night, till there is to the miserable 
victim no more morning, no sun nor moon, no brightness and no 
shadow, only one long dreary duration. One can almost ima- 
gine the wheel and the thumbscrew to be pleasant relief to such 
an existence. 

These creditable inventions of the golden age of simplicity are 
still here ; and also a sort of basket called the " witches' tub,'' 
into which they were crowded and screwed to indescribable 



ZUG 101 

anguish. There are also the great timbers for crushing, the 
pulleys for adjusting the apparatus in the nicest manner, and 
three great stones, the largest two hundred pounds in weight, 
for suspending to the limbs as a last resort for those who would 
not confess themselves guilty of a crime of which they knew not 
the meaning. The bastinado is also here, but the wreath of 
ii'on spikes, and the boards for stretching the body, and the 
cramping-irons to fasten it, are considered unworthy the patron- 
age of modern philanthropists. These punishments are for those 
guilty of ordinary misdemeanors ; incorrigible criminals are sent 
to Zurich, and formerly many were transported to the galleys 
of Italy. Not long ago, a man was chained to the walls of his 
own house ; and yet Zug is not a day's journey from Berne, 
where exists a prison^ so perfectly combining punishment with 
humanity and reform. 

The cantonal colours of Lucerne, Zug, and Zurich are the 
same — ^blue and white — but differ in the arrangement. In Zug, 
a blue stripe passes through a field of white on their shield, and 
on the Landweihd the dress is blue around the shoulders, and 
below entirely white, with a blue stripe down behind. The 
election takes place on the first Sunday in May, and the Lau- 
damman remains in office two years. The age of citzenship is 
nineteen years, and though entirely Catholic, they do not allow 
their monks any part in the affairs of the government. The 
principal articles of their constitution date to the fourteenth 
century ; and in 1814 they were peremptory in demanding that 
it should be written, in order to feel secure, and their constitu- 
tion is now one of the best in Switzerland. 

There are nine parishes and four convents, in which are edu- 
cated many priests for the rest of Switzerland. The gu'ls in the 
Catholic cantons are said to be more universally educated than 



102 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

in the Protestant cantons; though this education is very limited. 
They are taught to read and write by the nuns, and many kinds 
of needlework, which is certainly better than nothing ; and we 
hear it very often asserted that they are also more moral. The 
reason of this may be, that the standard of housekeeping and 
comfort is not so high. They do not wait till they are rich, or are 
sure of a competence, before marrying; and this is true of every 
country, and especially of cities. Where society demands, of 
all who are passable, a certain style in order to move in a certain 
rank, those w^ho cannot afford it preserve their rank and sacri- 
fice their honour. 

From Zug there is also a large emigration of young men to 
other cantons, who wish to engage in trade or industry for whiclj 
opportunity is not furnished at home. They have always dis- 
tinguished themselves as soldiers, and have furnished a creditable 
number to the ranks of authors and men of letters. There are 
not so many in the forest and central cantons as in the north and 
west, but yet none of them are without theh' artists, poets, and 
historians.* It was Louis Pfififer, a Smss general, native of 
Lucerne, who, with his six thousand soldiers, saved Catharine 
Medicis, her son, and all the royal household, and led them 
safely from Manx to Paris. It was a native of the same canton 
who made the first dictionary of Swiss dialects, and another who 
produced the first bas-reliefs of Swiss scenery, now so common. 
One of their musicians was master and composer to Prince 
Conti, and another, in 1*120, was one of the best organists of 
Europe. 

* A book has just been published in Zurich, " Lives of Distinguished Men, Natives of 
Switzerland," which we commend to those who think Switzerland has produced no 
great men. It is curious that so many pens should have set to work this last year to do 
justice to the little republic. 



zuG. 103 

In Canton Scliwytz, among their heroes the name of Reding 
is most conspicuous, and some one of the family distinguished 
himself in every Swiss battle. One of them also made a memo- 
rable address at the Council of Constance. The learning of 
Paraclese was nearly unparalleled ; and the volumes of Ray- 
maun are still invaluable to those who would write of ancient 
history and diplomacy. The poets and painters are also nume- 
rous. We find in the Kves of nearly all these men remarkable 
and interesting incidents exhibiting their moral heroism in over- 
coming obstacles, their struggles with poverty, their sufferings 
and trials in painful positions, which are the surest proofs of the 
genius which inspired them. Our plan and limits do not /admit 
of our relating these things, but so much we cannot help seeing 
and saying, that the air of republicanism is not the miasma it 
has been represented, blightmg to every germ of talent, and 
covering with mUdew all the fruits of genius. It cannot be true, 
because it is contrary to all the laws of God and nature, that 
freedom should not be a healthful sustenance for the soul of 
man. 




CHAPTER YII. 



VALAIS. 



CROSSING THE FURKA — RHONE GLACIER — INN — MANUFACTURIES AND AGRI- 
CULTURE — LOVE OP LIBERTY — CRETINISM. 



The ancients used to say, the Rhone came " out of eternal 
night," but we know now that it comes from three little 
springs more than five thousand feet above the sea, but which 
unite and soon disappear under the great mass of snow and ice 
denominated the Rhone Glacier, which lies between the Geters- 
horn and Galenstock, two towering peaks, which limit YalaLs in 
the northeast. 

It was on one of the hottest of summer days that we crossed 
what is called the Furka Pass, and about three o^clock in the 
afternoon, on our way westward from Andermatt, in Canton 
XJri, that our guide said to us, " You can take a last look at 
this little village, for you will not see another till to-morrow 
night." We knew that we were to cross one of the longest and 
dreariest of the Alpine passes, and knew, of course, that there 
could be neither fruitful plains nor laughing valleys on the tops 
of the mountains, nor in the gorges between them ; yet it 

104 



VALAIS. 105 

sounded almost like a death-knell as we heard it, and looked 
around to say farewell to the little huts, among which nothing 
would have tempted us to stay, if we could never have the 
hope of reaching another of the dwelling-places of men. The 
hills were not yet bare ; there was now and then a tuft of 
shrubbery, some trees looking as if it were a winter's instead of 
a summer's day ; and grass, that was tall enough and green 
enough to tempt the mower's scythe ; for it was being cut by 
men and transported on the backs of women from every knoll 
and crevice to their distant winter homes. 

But even these pleasant oases soon disappeared ; our horse 
was moving at the slowest possible pace to which four feet 
could measure their steps ; the sun, which had been at midday 
fiercely hot, was beginning to look pale and dim ; no living 
thing was to be seen to vary the monotony or break the still- 
ness, except the httle form of our young companion, who, 
with his long alpine stock, jumped over ledge and rock, and 
climbed the dizziest heights, while we were plodding along the 
one narrow, unvarying path ; the mountains grew more grand 
and terrible in their height, and the gorges more fearful in their 
depth, — we could very easily have believed that we should never 
more reach human habitation. 

" Are there any more difficult heights than these ?" we ask 
of our machine-looking old guide, who says he has been this 
way with this same horse every week for ten years. " Och, ja 
wohl," he replies ; '' these are nothing ; these are no mountains 
at all," — upon which he stops and pats affectionately his good 
horse, sees if his shoes are fast and the saddle is right, asks us 
if we are weary, and jogs along. What is he thinking, we 
wonder ; he does not look as if he ever had a thought ; yet he 
knows every mountain by its name, every tradition and legend ; 

5* 



106 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

and this being his duty as guide, he stops at every point and 
repeats them. Now and then we must ford a mountain torrent, 
which comes foaming and dashing on the way to its bridal with 
the Rhone far away in some distant valley. We should demur 
and decline all such adventures, if it were longer of any use ; 
but having put our '* hand to the plough," there is no turning 
back, though the courage has every moment to receive a new 
spur, in order to be equal to the exertion. 

Now and then we meet a lone traveller like ourselves, and it 
becomes a question who shall run the risk of rolling over into 
the gulf below, by turning out where there is scarcely room for 
the hoofs of one horse ; or perhaps a merry party, reminding 
one of the caravans of the desert, where lords and ladies, tents 
and baggage, are being transported from city to city by sedans. 

At length we reach the Furka height, some eight thousand 
feet above the sea, and scarcely feel that it is the middle of 
August, where the snow is lying in drifts and the frost is upon 
our eyelids. The red roof of the little inn looks cheery without, 
and the bright fire blazmg within is genial, but for the sake 
of recording it in our note-book, we go out and enjoy a game, 
at snowball, putting our cheeks in a glow, which the good wine 
of the innkeeper heightens, and also helps to increase our 
powers of endurance to the point of another three hours' ride, 
to which we are compelled before we can find lodging for the 
night. 

We soon learn, that the mountains we left behind '' were no 
mountains at all," and resort to the precaution of drawing our 
ample capuchin closely over our eyes, to shut out the dizzy 
depths, till at length the great glacier appears, and the Rhone 
flowing quietly out from some unfathomable vault beneath the 
massive arch. It is only a murmuring brook ; but before it 



VALAIS. 107 

reaches the lake it is joined by eighty more, which swell it to a 
mighty stream, and during the melting of the snows cause it to 
overflow, to the destruction of whole villages, which are never- 
theless immediately rebuilt on its banks, as neither landslide nor 
avalanche, flood, fire, nor famine, ever frighten the Swiss from 
their mountains or their villages. 

It is the most gloomy vision imaginable to come in view of 
one of these crevasses, just as darkness is covering it with her 
sombre shadows. The snow is not the pure white of a winter 
drift, but as if a spring thaw had just spread her dingy mantle 
over it ; there is not a tree or shrub or spke of grass on all the 
surrounding heights, the cold is that of blue November on one 
of her moodiest days, and we are chilled as if a March wind 
had penetrated every pore. It is grand, but it is also terrible, 
and we shut our eyes. 

We cross a little bridge and find ourselves in the midst of a 
herd of shaggy goats, before the door of the little inn. Alas ! 
they say there is no more room, and we say also, " We have no 
more strength, and it is akeady dark. If we sleep with the 
goats, you must find for us a lodging-place." When, indeed, 
did it ever happen that an inn, great or small, was filled to its 
utmost capacity ? They succeeded in finding us " accommoda- 
tion," if it deserves the name, where everything is the perfection 
of all that is dismal and forlorn. 

We ascend by a ladder to the corner of the garret, where, by the 
help of Uanket-shawls and other conveniences, we enjoy a "room 
to om'selves," and learn in the morning that three persons who 
came after us were also in the same way "accommodated." 
Next to an inn, there is nothing which can be expanded and 
compressed, moulded and twisted, into so many useful forms as 
a blanket-shawl. It is the Tie. plus ultra of inventions. Ours 



108 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

served as altogether the most impenetrable partition-wall to oui 
apartment ; for in the others, which were boards, were so many 
imitation crevasses that we were haunted all night by Jack-d*- 
lanterns and Will-o^-tke-wisps. From our window, of four lilliputian 
panes, we looked down upon the snows which the summer suns 
of centuries had never melted, heard the rushing waters as they 
exultingly burst their icy bands, the bleating of the goats — who 
seemed to be disturbed in their midnight slumbers, or never to 
enjoy any — and the incessant creaking of the rickety house, and 
footsteps of those who are certainly night-walkers, if not som- 
nambulists. The dust of the downy coverings performs for our 
nostrils the office of cayenne pepper or black snuflf, and the cold 
could scarcely have been greater if we were lying upon, instead 
of at the foot of, the glacier. Yet we sleep, and wake '' in the 
morning early," with a health of body and an exhilaration of 
spirits it was never our fortune to experience after a night upon 
"velvet couch with silken curtains gay." 

We look forth, and now it is a sight worth all the trouble, 
and pain, and anxiety, we have been at to behold it. In Can- 
ton Yalais alone there are one hundred and thirty glaciers, and 
this is said not only to be the most beautiful among them, but 
one of the most beautiful in Switzerland. The lower part has 
the form of a cataract suddenly frozen, while its crown is com- 
posed of Gothic arches, fanciful colonnades, peaks, spires, -and 
stalactites, on which the sun is shedding a flood of golden light, 
reflecting, in myriad fantastic shapes and changing shadows, 
each glistening point and proud pilaster. Like some grand 
cathedral-dome, the Galenstock rears its head, and forms a dark 
and solemn relief, and the cloudless blue of the vault above 
casts over all the soft hues of peerless beauty. We walk out to 
stand by the cradle of the ''little Rhodanus,'' fretting like an 



VALAIS. 109 

infant in its swaddling-clothes, and reflect, as we often do by the 
pillows where rests an immortal mind, " What a terrible power is 
slumbering there, unconscious of the glory and majesty it is to 
reveal — of the good or the evil it has the power to bring to a 
world teeming with human life I" 

Yery httle indeed does the proud river know of the happiness 
it scatters in the valleys through which it winds, or the misery 
it causes when it rushes wildly over meadow and moor, tearing 
down forests and sweeping away villages in its course. But not 
only the Rhone itself, but many of the rivers which flow into it, 
also cause avalanches and floods, so that throughout the canton 
these are the occurrences of every year, destroying millions of 
property and hundreds of lives. 

Three or four miles from the Rhone glacier is the village of 
Obergestein, which is the place of deposit for that portion of 
the Gruyere cheese which is destined for Italy, and also where 
the four little mountain paths meet which lead over the passes 
most dreaded by travellers. Here occurred, in 1720, an 
avalanche which enveloped eighty-eight persons in its snowy 
winding-sheet. Upon the tomb in which they were afterwards 
enclosed, is inscribed : O Dieu ! Quel deuil .'88 dans un seid 
sepulchre ! 

Besides floods and avalanches, there are frequent earthquakes. 
In 1855, in a little village where the Wisp falls into the Rhone, 
they were rocked several months, till finally only seven houses 
were left habitable, and the damages extended hundreds of 
miles. 

Even the Simplon does not escape the ravages of the moun- 
tain torrents, and in 1834 and 1839, nearly eight miles were 
destroyed, many bridges swept away, and in some places every 
trace of the beautiful structure effaced. 



110 



THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 



There is every variety of climate, from the torrid zone tc 
Spitzbergen, and seven-eighths of the plants pecuhar to the 
climate and soil of Switzerland are to be found within its 
limits. Yet the people are in many respects far behind those 
on the north side of the mountains, though it cannot be from 
the reason that their resources are insufficient, if rightly used. 
One reason they give themselves is, that the miUtary service, 
which has drawn so many of their youth to Rome and Naples, 
has been the death-warrant of home industry. There is no 
capital for the commencement of enterprise, and they do 
nothing by associations themselves, and allow nothing to be 
done by others. 

There is no department of manufactures in any flourishing 
condition, and even the braiding of straw, which the government 
introduced a few years since, found not sufficient favour in their 
eyes to spur their hands to diligence, and there was no con- 
venient market for the sale of their wares. 

In the summer, three thousand are employed in the Alpine 
pastures, and for all who remain, agriculture is the only labour. 
In this they have latterly made some advances. Lands long 
held in common, and free to cattle, have been divided and 
apportioned to those who would cultivate them. For many 
years the potatoes almost failed, and this led them to the culti- 
vation of maize in the southern portions, where it is waving, if 
not in its pristine magnificence, at least in respectable size and 
proportions, the silver tassels peeping out from goodly ears that 
are afterwards converted, not into "Johnny cakes" and " brown 
loaves," but mto something that might answer to " hasty pud- 
ding," or " mush." 

There are also many sunny hill-sides clothed with vines, and 
they are beginning to cultivate the mulberry. Within a few 



VALAIS. Ill 

years, specimens of beautiful glass have been produced, and ic 
one village a paper factory has been established. 

In some parts there is no deficiency of talent, as many 
painters and sculptors evince, and in others no deficiency of 
energy, as their marvellous little canals for the irrigation of their 
lands fully prove. One sees them everywhere in the valley of 
the Rhone, running across the hills, conducted over ravines, and 
passing through solid rocks for miles, till they reach some dry 
and parched plain, where Uttle lakes are formed, from which 
sluices convey the water where it is needed. With them, as 
with others, " Where there is a will there is a way." 

But their wants are few, and, like the people of IJnterwald, 
their devotions many. There is a peculiar beauty in their rustic 
chapels ; and one may meet in every path the pilgrim on his 
way to shrine or temple, or with folded hands kneeling before 
some image of saint or Yirgin, with an air of sincerity and faith 
which is always beautiful, whether in pagan or Christian. But 
if our inquiries or philosophy follow them elsewhere, we cannot 
help wishing there were less zeal and more knowledge. 

It is always a difficult matter in Catholic Switzerland to 
reconcile this apathy in then* practical affairs — this trust in their 
religion — with the energy and defiance they manifest under the 
slightest political control. The Pope in his palmiest days was 
not allowed to meddle in their elections, and princely bishops 
have been dethroned for endeavouring to impose upon them a 
bailiff against their will, or to restrain them in the exercise of 
their right of free suffrage. 

The expression, now common in all lands, " the people rose 
en masse,^^ originated in Yalais, from the curious manner they 
had of rising to redress any grievance which they considered as 
imposed upon them by those in authority. Whatever might be 



112 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

his position or office, the person who had become obnoxious was 
represented in effigy, by taking the trunk of a tree and fashion- 
ing a rude head at the top, and setting it in a pubUc place, 
where it was christened by the name of masse, which in German, 
French, and English has the same signification — a heap or bulk 
of something. But the people treated it as if it had really 
human understanding, and either by some machinery, or by a 
person concealed within its huge proportions, it was made to 
show signs of intelligence. The secret of this, however, was 
known only to a few. 

The populace assembled, and some person appointed addressed 
himself to the image, asking, " Of whom hast thou to complain ? 
Is it Baron B. or Lord L. ?" — always being sure to mention the 
name they were preparing to execrate. The masse bowed his head 
very low in assent, and the people uttered loud cries of rage and 
vengeance. They then drove a quantity of nails into the trunk, 
though we do not learn for what purpose, or what they were to 
signify, unless it was crucifixion, and bore it aloft, followed by 
a triumphant crowd, and placed it before the door of the person 
accused or hated. He understood, without further communica- 
tion, that his fate was sealed, and took refuge in flight, thus 
renouncing all future pretensions to power or influence among 
them. If he attempted any resistance, his house would be des- 
troyed, his property seized, and his partisans killed. 

It is a cm'ious fact, illustrative of the manners of the Middle 
Ages ; and not less curious, that the phrase should have crept 
into every language, and the custom, in some modified form, 
have characterized the revolutionists of every period and nation, 
with a similar expression denoting their popular outbreaks. 

In the German portion of the Canton Yalais, they keep these 
old times in remembrance by dramatizing them, with the peo- 



VALAIS. 113 

pie for actors, and very likely the village curate for stage 
director. 

The Reformation made some converts among them, but a 
popular assembly in 1603 decreed that the new doctrines should 
not be preached, and banished all who had adopted them. 

In 160t, the Jesuits were estabUshed as teachers in the col- 
leges of Brigue and Sion, and continued there for more than 
three centuries. In 184*1, after the war of the Sonderbund, 
they were banished from all Switzerland by the Federal Govern- 
ment. 1^0 Jesuitical school, college, or association, can exist 
within the hmits of the twenty-two cantons. Against this 
measure there was much remonstrance and many rebellions, and, 
with the suppression of the convents of Argovie, caused great 
alarm to the Catholics, but they have finally subsided ; a new 
constitution, satisfactory to all, has been completed, and a new 
code of laws promulgated instead of that which had existed for 
centuries, and which was written in Latin. 

Public instruction is now the care of the state. Every com- 
mune is obhged to support a school, and all children are com- 
pelled to attend till the age of fifteen, and a cantonal normal 
school educates the teachers. It is only ten years since this system 
went into operation, and there are already three hundred schools, 
and nearly fourteen thousand children attending them. There has 
not yet been time to educate a generation, but they are begin- 
ning fully to appreciate the benefits to be derived from schools, 
and make constant efforts to improve them. N^o canton has 
suffered more than Yalais fi'om the ravages of foreign arms, and 
when we take into account all the calamities which they are 
continually experiencing, we cannot marvel so much at their 
ignorance and poverty. 

A lordly bishop still rules at Sion, and is the ninetieth who 



114 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

has sat in the same chair. His power is somewhat restricted in 
later years, as he is now the subject of the state, and elected by 
the Grand Council, but his influence is scarcely less over the 
people. There are, besides, seven convents of different orders. 
The one at St. Bernard is known to all travellers who cross the 
mountains at that place, and many do so on purpose to see the 
old monks and their dogs, who have charge of it. It was esta- 
blished in 962 by St. Bernard, of Menthon, archdeacon of 
Aoste, who endowed it and placed there monks of the order of 
St. Augustine. Those of the same order live there still, only 
about twenty residing constantly at the hospice, others, sup- 
ported by the institution, exercising hospitality at St. Jou or 
Jovet, another mountain pass, and others at Simplon ; when 
they are old and sick they resort to Mortigny, and some are 
curates in villages. 

There can be no life more self-sacrificing and benevolent 
than that of the monks of St. Bernard, as most BngUsh tourists 
know. 

Napoleon crossed by the Great St. Bernard, and it was the 
toils and losses he experienced which decided him to construct 
the Simplon, on which thirty thousand men were sometimes 
employed at once, and the expense of which was about twent}'- 
seven thousand five hundred dollars per mile. It requires three 
days to traverse it from Montigny to Milan, and its breadth is, 
through the whole distance, from twenty-five to tliirty feet. Yet 
the army of Napoleon III. strewed it with the sick and dying on 
their march to Italy in April, so intense was the cold, and so 
deep the snow, and the obstructions so many, though art had 
done all in her power to smooth the way. Thirty thousand 
persons pass over it every year, and as many over each of the 
others ; and if the whole olrject o^ travellers is to see fine 



VALAIS. 115 

scenery, they can be sufficiently gratified on either of these great 
chaussees, and need not cross glaciers or climb precipices, at the 
peril every moment of sacrificing their lives. But there is a 
fascination about the mountains, or a spell in the atmosphere, 
which, when once experienced, seems irresistible, and to act like 
a magnet or charm. "We have met persons who have spent 
every summer for years in pedestrian excursions in Switzerland, 
without having passed a week in exploring any other land. And 
there is certainly an exhilaration which one would gladly reahze 
for ever, if it were possible. We doubt whether misfortune or 
evil tidings of any description would exert the slightest depressing 
influence on the spirits anywhere between five and eight thou- 
sand feet above the sea. 

But the evils of sickness and deformity are nowhere more 
deplorable than among these same mountains and valleys. The 
victims of Cretinism and the goitre are the most revolting objects 
our eyes ever rested upon, and they are to be met oftener in 
Yalais than any other canton. But philosophers have discovered 
the causes in the unhealthy position of certain villages, from 
marshy lands or stagnant pools, where the mountains prevent a 
circulation of air, increased by want of nourishing food and 
ignorance of physical laws. But there is no mention of these 
unfortunate beings in the valley of Aoste when Caesar conquered 
it and Augustus founded a colony there. Their beauty and 
their valour were a marvel to the Roman general. 

Neither are these two frightful forms of disease peculiar to 
Switzerland, as some people imagine. We met a young lady 
who ran to the glass every morning the moment she awoke, to 
see if she could discover any enlargement of her throat, and 
another who measured her neck every night, to be sure and flee 
the moment there was any danger. But in England alone there 



116 THE COTl'AaES OF THE ALPS. 

are thirty thousand people in the different stages of idiocy ; and 
in the village of Pelcham, on the Danube, there were found five 
hundred men not able to bear a sword. 

Goitre seems to be only a physical calamity, a hideous roll of 
flesh protruding from the throat till it sometimes reaches the 
ground, and is so burdensome that the person afflicted with it 
cannot walk uprightly. Cases Of it are frequent in some coun- 
ties of England, South America, and some islands of the East 
Indies. Switzerland being the most travelled, is most exposed 
to observation and censure. 

One of their physicians, in a treatise upon the subject, says, 
"Is it not a far higher proof of civilization to provide for the 
happiness of our lowest and worst people, than to decorate our 
streets with galleries, statues, and monumental trophies ?" The 
institution established at Interlaken for the reception of Cretins 
has performed many wonderful cures, produced great amehora- 
tion in obstinate cases, and more than all, perhaps, led to in- 
quiry in other lands, attracted the attention of physicians and 
physiologists to these and other maladies, and thus proved a 
beacon light to the world without, though within there seems 
only the blackness of darkness. 

The history of the establishment is well known. It stands 
upon a high peak called ''Abendberg,'^ " mountain of the setting 
sun," and originated with a young professor in Zurich Uni- 
versity, Guggenhuhl, who resolved to devote himself to the 
study of medicine with reference to the relief of this miserable 
class of human beings. They do not attempt a cure unless the 
patient is received before the age of seven years. The remedies 
are bathing, exercise, amusement, and especially the influence of 
personal kindness and interest. It must be the noblest mind 
and the purest heart that can devote a life to such labours ; 



VALAIS. 117 

there is something so repulsive in the idiotic stare and vacant 
smile, united with the deathlike pallor and the absence of all 
appreciation on the part of the recipient for weeks, for months, 
perhaps for ever! We could not help exclaiming, ''If there 
are angels in human form, here they are, ministering to these 
wretched creatures !" 

We saw a cat painted bj a Cretin, who had this one talent 
and taste, and executed his portraits to the life, without the 
slightest sense or understanding concerning any other earthly 
thing. Of course his malady was only partial ; but most of 
them have only the power of motion and the instinct which 
prompts to eat and drink ; and there must be a universal re- 
formation in Yalais in all their domestic habits before they can 
deserve to be called Christian or civilized, notwithstanding their 
churches and works of art, their poUtical freedom, and their 
education. Many of the most distinguished generals in the 
French and Itahan armies have been Yallasians, and not a few 
have attained eminence in science and Idles lettres. 

There is also in some valleys a remarkable type of beauty, 
both in men and women. But one wishes there could be a 
mission established for teaching housekeeping when the homes 
are exposed where these same people live. The contents of any 
respectable pigs' trough would be more palatable than what 
they concot, to say nothing of the utensils, where an old woman 
.wears a leathern apron, and whilst wondering what is her pro- 
fession with such a costume, looking as if flood and fire would 
be the best ordeals to which to subject it, we behold her gather- 
ing its stiff folds in one hand, whilst the other acts as egg-beater 
to a mass of yolks she has poured therein. We afterwards 
learn this is her common pan for all purposes of stirring, mixing, 
and beating for the various compounds they make in exercising 



118 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

the culinary art ; and certainly no invention could expect to 
provide for a greater economy of labour. Yet a pretty maiden, 
who is taught cooking in this way, wears a hat which costs 
perhaps from twelve to twenty dollars, the foundation being 
Italian straw, and the trimmings all manner of ribbons and 
flowers, crimped, and plaited, and folded in a way to use the 
greatest possible quantity of material. They look very jaunty 
and coquettish, and set off their pretty faces to perfection, which 
they seem to know very well. Whether knitting or netting, 
braiding straw or breaking flax, tending silkworms or spinning 
thread from little wheels, which they carry about, there is a 
grace and litheness about them quite different from the gayest 
and prettiest on the northern side of the mountains. Not the 
less conspicuous is it in the little beggars, who will kiss the hand 
to you in the most gracious manner before extending it for 
pennies, or they throw you a bouquet, or arown you with a gar- 
land, or sing a song, for which they expect a reward, and which 
you find it very difficult to refuse. 

They have a curious custom in several places of amassing 
great stores of certain kinds of provisions, in order that when 
they die there may be sure to be enough for a feast for the 
mourners. And when they go far down in the plains and vine- 
yards for the vintage or to gather fruits, if one dies they do not 
bury him in a strange land, but place him on a mule, and when 
it is night travel slowly homeward, stopping now and then to 
pray around the unconscious companion whom they escort. 




i^Jt— 



CHAPTER YIII. 

VAUD. 

CHEESE SOCIETIES — UNION DAIRIES — WINE-PRESSES — BLACKSMITH'S SHOPS 
—LACE-MAKING — VINTAGE FESTIVAL OF VEVAY — SHEPHERD SONGS. 

Yaud is the pattern canton in all that concerns agriculture and 
the interests of rural affairs. With her originated almost every 
improvement ; and possessing a climate which exhibits every 
degree of heat and cold, her soil is also various, and prompts 
experiments. A half-century ago she did not produce one third 
grain enough for her 150,000 inhabitants, and now produces 
more than enough for nearly 200,000. Yet they continue the 
custom of allowing a portion of the land to lie fallow, not every 
third, but every sixth year, especially in the northern parts of 
the canton, but not as in the olden time, without exercising judg- 
ment, and departing from the rule at any time if it seems best. 

The principle of association enters into all their operations, by 
which the poor are made rich, and the rich not impoverished. 
Kot only the village cheese-press, but the threshing machine, the 
wine-press, the sheepfold, the bakery, and the blacksmith's shop 
arc conmion property; and when a family is too poor to pay for 
the use of any machine, it is granted free, upon the principle 

119 



120 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

that the prosperity of one is the prosperity of all ; and if one is 
allowed to suffer, the detriment extends directly or indirectly to 
each member of the community. 

Union dairies were not formed till the nineteenth century, and 
now there are 433 in this one canton, and they exist more or 
less extensively in all. In New England, families which possess 
few cows have the custom of exchanging milk, in order to make 
larger and richer cheeses than could be made with the small 
quantity of one. Here, the custom was exactly the same, till by 
degrees the whole village, and sometimes cities, became partners 
of a cheese society. 

They build a house, and furnish it with cauldron, cheese-tubs, 
pails, dippers, ladles, and all necessary apparatus, and hire a 
cheese-maker, paying him with a certain portion of cheese and 
whey. A committee is appointed to superintend the details, 
keep an account of all expenses, inspect the arrangements, to be 
sure they are neat, and to attend to all the interests of the asso- 
ciation, each member contributing to the expense in proportion 
to the number of cows which he has. The milk is sent to the 
dairy twice each day, the average quantity of each family being 
ascertained, and the laws of the association not allowing any to 
be sold elsewhere. The quantity of cheese is of course appor- 
tioned according to the milk furnished, and the association 
attends to the seUing and repayments. 

If others wish to join, they pay a slight entrance fee, accord- 
ing to the capital of the association and the milk they send ; and 
if the society dissolves, everything is valued, and each one remu- 
nerated according to his portion of the expense at the begin- 
ning. 

In the country of vineyards the wine-press belongs to the com- 
munity, and the sum which each one pays is fixed either by law 



VAUD. 121 

or custom, the rich paying generously and the poor nothing. A 
man whose wealth is in vineyards will perhaps have a press exclu- 
sively his own. We have seen such an one in a large building, 
the cellar of which was devoted to tuns and hogsheads of wine. 
The grapes were pressed in the mill, and the juice conducted to 
the lower regions by means of a pipe, thus saving the labour of 
transporting it. 

The bakeries are the same as in Germany,* except that they 
are not government institutions. In some places the bread 
is kneaded at home, and merely baked in the common oven ; and 
in others the meal is furnished and all the labour performed by 
the baker, who is paid according to agreement, often with 
dough, and sometimes depending entirely on the generosity of 
the Frauen for whom he moulds and bakes. As they look very 
doughty, and quite content with their position in life, we must 
conclude the dough is not dealt to them in mean proportions. 
The poor often pay nothing, and it is becoming more common to 
bake in famihes, thus allowing a greater variety, which is a want 
one feels sadly when a common oven furnishes all the bread. 
The difference is greater in Switzerland than in Germany in the 
quality produced in different places, perhaps because it is not all 
made by the same government receipt. There was scarcely any 
resemblance between the deUcate little Irods of Berne and the 
great loaves of Zurich, yet they were both good. In Glarus it 
was horrible, and in Graubiinden still worse, yet in each village it 
would be different. 

In districts where wheat is extensively cultivated, threshing 

* We do not mean to imply that in Germany the government has any pecuniary 
partnership in the baking, but that it is licensed, protected, and cared for by the gov- 
ernment, and the price of bread fixed by law. In Switzerland it is a voluntary asso- 
ciation with which magistracy has nothing to do. 

6 



122 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

machines are common, are owned by the commune and rented, 
moved by water and sometimes by horse power, as the labour 
of men is needed in the other departments of agriculture at the 
time of threshing. 

The sheep-associations employ a shepherd, usually a little boy, 
who has the care of so many sheep, the number depending upon 
the nature of the pasture. This belongs sometimes to a society, 
and sometimes to the commune, and is rented to as many sheep 
as it will nourish ; and if those who belong to the association 
have not enough, they take a few to hoard; and in this, as in 
everything else, there is the same beautiful care for the poor. 
Each association is sure to have room for a sheep or two of a 
widow or some unfortunate family who are depending upon the 
wool for their winter clothes, and yet own not a bit of land. 
The wool, flesh, and milk belong to the association ; and the 
shepherd is paid by contribution. 

The village blacksmith is also common property, receiving a 
salary, and shoeing horses and mending ploughs according to 
prices fixed by law. In this way he is sure of a competence, 
and every village is sure of a blacksmith ; and being entirely a 
voluntary arrangement between the parties, must be entered 
into, because in this way they secure the greatest good with the 
least trouble and expense. 

Not the least useful among these attempts to promote the 
common good are the life insurance companies for the cows. In 
some places horses are included, but the greatest number are for 
the horned creatures. The company is formed after the manner 
of those which insure the lives of people, and so much is paid 
for each cow according to the original capital, and an annual 
tax as may be required or agreed upon. The treasury is for the 
purpose of meeting exigencies, and in some communes amounts 



VAUD. 123 

to so large a sum that the interest alone is suJBficient to indemnify 
for all annual losses. If these are very great, from any special 
cause, a contribution or tax is assessed. 

The rules of indemnification vary among different companies, 
but it is usual to pay two-thirds of the price of the animal if it 
is a cow ; and if a horse, only one-half. A valuation is made 
twice a year, but sometunes so much is paid a head, without 
reference to the price of the animal. In communes where there 
is a forest, wood is often given in compensation for losses or a 
sum of money, or so much per cent. If a poor man loses a 
cow, the society makes him a present, which, with the sale of 
the skin and horns, shall equal the full value of the animal. 
Pecuniary aid is also granted in cases of misfortunes from other 
causes. If any difficulties occur, they are settled by arbiters. 

Among some families there will be also a common plough, or 
they hire one for the little time they wish to use it. 

The instances are not rare of poor families receiving a bit of 
land, enough for a house and garden, with timber to build, and 
assistance in making it habitable. 

But they are not an agricultural people only. Their watches 
keep time with those of Geneva, and their laces rival those of 
Flanders. But nearly all who are engaged in mechanics are the 
descendants of the French refugees, of whom six thousand settled 
on Lake G-eneva, after the Edict of Xantes, and brought with 
them their skill in various branches of industry. A single shop 
in Lausanne sends twenty thousand pairs of gloves to Paris, 
where ladies buy them for Parisian and think those by any other" 
name cannot possibly/^. They are made by the skilful fingers 
of the peasant girls in the surrounding country. 

In the valley of St. Croix are seven hundred kloppers, 
weaving the delicate meshes of thread-lace, which must also pass 



124 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

through a Parisian shop in order to become sufficiently distingue 
for a lady of quality. Dresses, shawls, and veils are also the 
work of their hands, and in all the varieties are employed nearly 
four thousand women. Their wages are nearly the same as 
those of the embroiderers in St. Gall and Appenzell. They 
weave into the braids of their hair a red ribbon, and draw over 
it a network, that softens the tints and adds to the charm ; and 
in their dress and in their homes there is the neatness of those 
who have not only the means but the inclination to improve in 
all things. 

Here are also manufactured pretty flower-baskets, and some 
fifty thousand music-boxes, every year. The tongues of the 
lace-makers move like their kloppers, and those who make music 
by machinery are disposed also to make it with their voices. Is 
it owing to their labour, or to the air and the sunshine, that 
they have become celebrated for their lightness of heart and 
blitheness of spirit ? Some would answer, " To their French 
extraction ;" yet in another village, not very far distant, those 
who had the same origin look like so many people in a galloping 
consumption. One would as soon expect a pearl as a hon-rnot 
from their lips, and will certainly take a chill if he remain long 
in their midst. But a cold north wind sweeps down through 
the valley, which may be the principal cause of their cadaverous 
countenances ; and another may be, that every house is a shoe- 
maker's shop, which sends forth an equal number of " boots and 
shoes daily." Wages have increased a third in Canton Yaud in 
the last half century, and the quality and abundance of food im- 
proved in proportion. Black bread has almost entirely disap- 
peared in the cot of the labourer and the Sennhut on the moun< 
tain. In the valley of the Joux, where fifty years ago there 
was scarcely a garden, and vegetables as rare as the wheaten 



VAUD. 125 

loaf, may now be seen the flower-bed beneath every window, 
and the patches of peas, beans, and cabbages spreading far and 
wide. 

It is a land of vineyards and rich pastures, and wine and 
cheese occupy a large space in the cellar of every prosperous 
household. The juice which is expressed from pears and other 
fruits, except apples, is called in Switzerland Most, and this and 
cider are also among the winter stores. Since it became the 
custom to furnish their own cellars, the inns are not so much 
frequented, though neither here nor elsewhere are they by any 
means deserted. 

Fresh meat does not often appear on their tables, except on 
Sundays and festival days ; but ham, with potatoes and other 
vegetables, almost every day for dinner. Among the peasantry, 
four meals a day are customary, and at two of them wine never 
fails. The lowest class of labourers are not content without at 
least a quart daily, besides a glass of brandy before going to 
work in the morning. Pancakes and waffles with wine are the 
evening repast, and cheese on all occasions. 

The pride of the Senn is to see his hut Imed with smoked 
meat ; and in order to be sure and rival his neighbour on the 
opposite hni-side in this respect, he will live upon cheese and 
whey till his meat is spoiled. Hanging upon strings against the 
walls of the storehouse may also be seen slices of bread with 
a hole through the middle. When they are dried, he eats them 
with a bit of toasted cheese dipped in wine. 

In alluding to the shepherd-life of these regions, Byron says : 
'' The music of the cow-bells in the pastures, which reach to a 
height far above any mountains in Britain, and the shepherds 
shouting to us from crag to crag, and playing on their reeds 
where the steeps appeared almost inaccessible, with the surround- 



126 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

ing scenery, realized all that I have ever beard or imagined of 
a pastoral existence — much more so than Greece or Asia Minor, 
for there we have a little too much of the sabre and musket 
order, and if there is a crook in one hand, you are sure to see a 
gun in the other ; but this was pure, unmixed, solitary, savage 
and patriarchal. As we went away, they sang the Raoiz des 
Vac/ies and other airs by way of farewell." 

As we have elsewhere explained, the genuine Ranz des Vaches 
has no words, but we have found one or two simple shepherd- 
songs which are said to have a date more ancient than any 
man's knowledge, and which are yet to be heard every day 
among the hills, that sound so shepherd-like, we have transcribed 
them, making the translation literal, word for word, without 
any attempt to give them an English versification : 

"the song of the ormonds. 

*' The shepherds of the Colombette rise early, 
Ho, ho, the cows to milk ; ho, ho, the cows to milk. 
Afterwards the milk must be set to curdle, 
Before the cheese can be made ; ho, ho, the cows to milk. 
You are come to the ford and cannot cross, 

Ho, to the milking. 
Poor brother, what shall we do ? We must go to the priest, 

Ho, to the milking. 
And what do you wish that we say to the priest ? 

Ho, to the milking. 
He must say an Ave Maria, that we the river may cross; 

Ho, to the milking. 
Peter knocks on the door, and says to the priest, 
Ho, ho, the cows to milk ; ho, ho, the cows to milk. 
*We are stopped at the ford, say an Ave Maria; 
Send us your maiden, we will make ner a fat cheese.' 



VAUD. 127 

• My maid is too pretty ; I am afraid you would keep her ; 
Then God would be angry, and you must come to confession ; 
Go away, friend Peter, and I will say the Ave Maria.^ 
Ho, to the milking ; ho, to the milking." 

"the storm:. 

" It rains, it rains ; my fair one, put on your cloak and gather your 
sheep. Listen to the patter among the leaves : it rains without ceasing. 
The weather is black as ink, and it begins to lighten. 

" Hear ! the thunder begins to roll. It is nothing ; fear not ; keep 
close to me. I see already our cottage, and near it are my mother and 
Judith. Both hasten to meet us. 

" Good evening, dear mother, and dear sister, good evening ; here is a 
lodger I have brought for the night. Make a bright fire, she is cold and 
wet. I will in the meantime go for the sheep. We must take care, dear 
mother, of her beautiful flock. We need some fresh straw for the lamb- 
kins. It is well, dear mother ; now let us go to the kitchen. Oh ! how 
pretty she is, undressed and barefoot ! 

"Now we will have supper; here is your chair; sit near to me, and 
set the candle near your dish. Taste your porridge. Oh ! you do not 
eat, my little one ; you are too sad and shy. 

" See, here is your bed ; go and sleep sweetly. Yet from your pretty 
mouth I must have one kiss. Good night till we meet again. To-mor- 
row my mother and I will go to your father and see what he says." 

One can easily believe these to be the words of the simplest 
of shepherd boys, befriending a little maiden as simple, who 
also tends her flocks among the mountains. 

The heights of the Jura have no peaks covered with eternal 
snow, but they are verdure-clad to the very tops, and furnish 
some of the richest pastures in Switzerland. 

Here are to be seen Senn-huts which are like villas, and 
which are occupied by whole families during the summer, who 
receive guests and entertain them with milk and honey, wine and 



128 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

cheese. In one of them, on a mountain overlooking the plains 
of Grandson, Bertrand wrote his romance ; and Monsieur Deles- 
sert has created an Elysium on Mount Tendre, from which one 
may overlook Canton Yaud, the chain of Alps, and nearly half 
Switzerland. Yet, they are Senn-huts still, because there the 
cows are milked and the cheese is made, though upon a 
grand and beautiful scale, from which all primitive simplicity 
has departed. The vineyards are like those of France, and the 
wines the delicate wines of Burgundy. On the vines of one 
kind are great clusters of the most beautiful amber colour, and 
on another, small, close, round bunches nearly black, so 
deep is their purple hue. The former need a fertile soil, while 
the latter are set m dry places, and often take root in beds of 
flint. Where new earth is needed, it is carried in baskets to the 
highest points, and old stocks grafted by making an opening five 
or six inches below the surface. 

The vintage takes place usually about the first or second 
week in October, when the vineyards present the same scene as 
in Germany, and the whole land keeps festival. The white 
grapes are crushed in tubs and carried to the press immediately ; 
but the black are kept in great vats, till fermentation com- 
mences. Both remain during winter in tuns ; and in March the 
wine is poured from the lees, and the best quality bottled and 
sealed. The white wines are the lightest, are soonest fit to 
drink, and keep the longest, some-of them thirty years. The 
juice of the purple grape is stronger, and in standing changes to 
an orange tint and becomes milder, but keeps only ten or 
twelve years. The lightness of tlie soil and the inclination of the 
hills affect their taste and quality. 

The costume of the vintagers is very coquettish, varying some- 
what in different places, but usually a skirt of blue bordered 



VAUD. 



129 



with lace, and bodice of black, with a gauze or crape kerchief 
over the bosom. The short, full chemise sleeves leave the arm 
mostly bare, and the hair is puffed beneath a wide-brimmed straw 
hat, the crown of which rises to a point like the neck of a bottle 
which has a glass stopper, the most curious of all head-gears. 

In Echallen, in the heart of the canton, great preparations 
are made for every festival, whether it is the vintage, a village 
raising, or a shooting feast, by washing or whitewashing the 
houses, and all the marriageable girls appear in new dresses, 
never wearing the same a second time on festal days. 

In Pailly, another village, all the maidens appear in black on 
similar occasions, with gold chains, standing before the doors to 
offer refreshments to those who pass, each family coveting the 
honour of showing hospitality. 

But the grand festival of Canton Yaud is the vintage fete of 
Vevay. Its origin is not known, but from many of its features 
it is supposed to have originated in G-reece, or to have been 
instituted here by Grecians, in honour of some person or occa- 
sion not now understood. Bacchus and Ceres have lost none of 
their importance in the ceremonies of the present day, and may 
have been the personages for whose benefit the festival was first 
given. Others think the monks of the early times wished to 
reward the diligent and encourage the culture of the vine, and 
therefore created the fete, distributing prizes at the same time 
that they diffused pleasure. One of the mottoes upon an 
ancient banner was " Prayer and labour ;" and whether the 
society was ancient or modern, it exists still. Those who have 
the best vineyards are reported by a committee, who visit all the 
neighbouring country to examine them, and on the day when la 
fete des vigmrons is celebrated, their names are made known, and 
medals awarded. 

6* 



130 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

There is a comical mingling of ancient and modern, sacred and 
profane, but without any intention of profanity. The principal 
actors know nothing of the heathen gods, or the mythology of 
the ancients, and very likely they do not know much more of 
I^oah and the spies of Canaan. 

The procession begins with the representatives of spring, 
crowned with garlands, who are followed by forty young men, 
laden with all the instruments used in wine culture, either new or 
made clean and beautiful for the occasion. Then come what arc 
called the priests of sacrifice, leading the consecrated ram, and 
Cenophren bearing the altar. The high priest follows, with a 
troop of beautiful children singing sacred songs. 

Why Silenus " riding on an ass " should be included in such a 
festival, we do not understand ; yet there he is, followed by 
Bacchus in his car. Ceres and Pallas are attended by a train 
of priestesses with their emblems, sickles, and wreaths of wheat, 
while in a long train are arranged the shepherds with their 
crooks, the mowers with their, scythes, hay-makers with their 
forks, and the Senns with their milk-pails and cauldrons, 
in costume to correspond with their labour, and singing the 
songs of their several professions. 

At the head of the third division are the spies of Canaan, 
represented by four officers of the guard, bearing rich purple 
clusters, which could not have been excelled by any the land of 
Canaan ever produced. Cyclops actually working at his forge, 
and a wine-press in full operation, drawn by horses, are the next 
conspicuous objects, with many vintagers carrying baskets filled 
with grapes, and their shears in their hands ; an^ last, but not 
least, father ISToah in his ark, surrounded by his wine-drinking 
sons. 

The songs are in all languages or dialects, the costumes of 



VAUD. 131 

every variety, and the banners displaying appropriate mottoes, 
while happy faces are not the least brilliant feature of the scene. 

At the windows of the houses appear the spinning wheels, also 
in gala attire, various utensils of household economy, and cook- 
ing apparatus, as emblematical of industry. 

A rustic wedding is always a part of the fete, when a fair mai- 
den receives a dower, and is crowned queen of the day, and gen- 
tlemen and ladies honour them with their presence, and join in 
their dances, singing : 

"Each with his sweetheart, oho, oho. 
Since four summers have they loved one another ; 
Let us honour them with song, and wine, and dance, 

Each with his sweetheart, oho, oho." 

All is finished with a procession of old men in the costume of 
William Tell, who are followed by the multitude to the shade of 
the chestnuts on the bank of the sea, where the tables are spread, 
laden with all that can tempt the palate, while everything to 
gratify the eye is arranged in not less generous profusion. 
Grapes of every hue, fruit of every variety, all the implements 
of agriculture and many of art ; baskets of all that the earth 
produces, the cheese of the mountain and the loaves of the val- 
ley ; every invention of cookery, and all that fair hands can 
form, are displayed with a taste which lacks nothing, and an 
abundance which knows no limits, while every garden must have 
been robbed of its treasures, and every parterre despoiled of its 
beauties, to crown the whole with garlands ; and the libations, 
not of new wine, but of old, are long and deep.* 

It is a curious fact, that the quantity of soap used in the can- 

* The reader will remember also that it is new wine, and not old, that intoxicates. 



132 THE COTTAGKS OF THE ALPS^ 

ton now is three times greater than thirty years ago. Here the 
great wash occurs twice a year, as in Germany, and the articles 
of a bride's wardrobe are counted by dozens, or ten and twelve 
dozen of each, not a rare dowry. 

Among the rich every trace of the old life and customs has 
disappeared ; and though in the seventeenth century a dancing- 
master was banished because he allowed persons of two sexes to 
remain together after ten o'clock, now they may dance all night, 
and till the dawn, without being molested by the government or 
any lesser authority. 

The Kiltgang, or nightly wooings, are the universal custom 
with the universal consequences, but in general the wife is 
treated with marked respect, is made keeper of the treasury, and 
consulted as the oracle of the family. In harvest, women are 
seen in the fields following the mowers, receiving in their arms 
the grain as it falls, and placing it carefully on the ground. 
They also take care of the gardens, are seen in towns wheeling 
little hand-carts, " with light wares laden ;" and here, as else- 
where, are the water-carriers on all occasions. 

There are remnants still of the days of superstition, when the 
devil was supposed to understand and meddle in all human 
affairs, and was designated by some twenty different names, as 
" serpent," " sly one," " old one," etc., and believed to be cloven- 
footed and clawed. 

Witches assembled at the rising of the moon, and their evil 
influence was charmed away by a verse of the Bible chanted by 
a priest. A beautiful neckband was placed upon a cow as a 
charm, and pigmies rode through the forest on pigs, using their 
tails for bridle and reins. Fairies with diamond eyes scattered 
riches, and in which the faith, of the people never faltered, though 
they remained always poor. . Whoever found at midnight a four- 



VAUD. 133 

leaved clover would inherit wealth. Over every fountain was 
a protecting angel, and at every burial the death-wine was 
drunk. 

When Canton Yaud was subject to Berne, the government 
endeavoured to compel, them to economy by law, and we find 
the same ludicrous enactments as elsewhere. 

Among the articles of the wardrobe of a noble lady of Yaud, 
in 1643, were a chain of 880 pearls, gold bracelets, a necklace 
of diamonds, and roses of rubies, and rings of all precious stones. 
The nobihty alone were allowed to wear gold, silver, brocade 
and lace. Burghers were forbidden to wear caps which cost 
more than eight dollars, and their wives were allowed but one 
dress and one petticoat, and no false hair. The wives of the 
clergy were forbidden to appear in taffeta, satin, or velvet. 
Coffee, tea, and chocolate were proscribed to all except my 
gracious Herren of the aristocracy, and only the Landvogt was 
an exception in the prohibition of smoking tobacco and taking 
snuff. On one occasion, availing himself of this permission, he 
produced his box in church, and passed it around for all to take 
a pinch. The preacher paused, and looking seriously at his 
excellency, said, "In this house we take only the Word of 
God." 

Now, the law commands' that a pastor's house shall be built 
with six rooms for the family, besides storeroom, chambers for 
servants, cellar, and room for catechumen. The rich dwell 
mostly on the banks of the lake, and exhibit all the elegance 
and luxury of English country-houses, with the varied architec- 
ture of Greece and Rome, or the Gothic of the Middle Ages. 
For windows, pillars, and wherever ornament is required, they 
use a kind of soft sandstone, which they call molassa, and the 
bricks, made by a mixture of the sand they obtain from the sea, 



134: THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

are a pale yellow, and are used for partitions, chimneys, and 
arches, with a very pretty effect. The roofs are covered with 
slate, which they bring from the Canton Yalais.* When one 
wishes to build a house, he gives his idea to the designer, the 
size of the rooms and of the whole, and the material. The cubic 
feet are then taken, for which he pays so much each. 

Formerly, the garden beds were all made by squaie rule, the 
trees set in straight rows, and the parterres like churchyards, 
suiTOunded by walls ; but taste is beginning to diffuse itself with 
utiUty, and comfort to go hand-in-hand with beauty. 

The law also prescribes, that the schoolhouse shall be provided 
with two rooms, kitchen, cellar, storeroom, dining-room, and 
"woodhouse, as it is occupied by the family of the teacher ; and 
the houses of the middle classes generally have a dining-room 
and guest-room, one for parents and one for children, besides 
pantries, storerooms, etc. There may not be any more room 
than formerly, but it is better used. The stairs are of stone 
with iron raiUngs, the walls are papered, the roofs plastered 
and ventilation secured. 

But remnants of the days of old are still to be found, or rather 
experienced, in curious old laws that were promulgated before 
the Roman conquest ; and some pages of their statute-books still 
bear the sign and seal of king Goudebaud. They have at differ- 
ent times blotted out, revised, and added, but there is always 
something disagreeable in proclaiming ourselves wiser and better 
than our fathers were, which is, notwithstanding, a great stum- 
bling-block to improvement. 

The towns on the sea are the resort of strangers of all nations, 
especially of English people, who pay their taxes at home and 

* Pebbles for the streets, they import from Savoy. 



VAUD. 136 

live abroad, it being impossible to do both, where taxes and ex- 
penses are both so great. 

We saw a family brought into the same ludicrous predicament 
here as in Germany, where a father, mother, and five children 
came ahroad without the marriage certificate, which alone could 
prove their respectabihty, or rather entitle any new comer into their 
midst to equal honour. Not till the httle one was born, and its 
name taken to the registry ofdce, did any one dream of the cala- 
mity which had befallen it, but though the parents, children, 
and others stood as witnesses, no petition could induce them to 
soil their pages with the record of a birth where there was no 
writing to prove the relationship of its parents. But as the 
laws concerning marriage are mostly to secure property rather 
than honour, no great evil will result to the little one, unless her 
prospects of inheritance should be increased far beyond what 
they were then. 

We saw this summer a notice of a marriage between parties, 
one of which was from Zurich, the other from Friburg, and they 
were to live in Soleure. The marriage took place in Berne, 
and fifteen testimonials and special documents were necessary to 
make it lawful ; upon which the editor of the journal indulges 
in witty speculations, that all who are looking forward to matri- 
mony will be for consolidating the confederacy and generalizing 
its powers. 

Another case occurred, when Americans, for some reason, 
were called upon to prove their marriage, and though the min- 
ister asserted that he knew the parties, and could not doubt 
their word, nothing less than seven witnesses standing in a row 
could satisfy the cantonal law. If citizens of another country 
wish to marry and settle in their midst, they must bring a cer- 
tificate from their own government that they shall be provided 



136 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

for in case of misfortune ; or if the husband and father die, that 
his family shall not become a burden to their adopted country. 

We were one day overwhelmed with reproaches because many 
of the emigrants to America were disappointed or deceived, or 
not properly provided for, by the government. But when we 
asked in return, what does any government in Europe do for 
strangers who may land on their shores ? they were obliged to 
answer, " K'othing, but to ordain that only those who have pass- 
ports and plenty of money shall be allowed to stay an hour in 
their midst." What would they do, indeed, were fifty, or twenty, 
or even ten, to be thrown suddenly upon their charities, as are 
thousands every week upon the benevolence of Americans ? 

In Canton Yaud there are nine hundred and sixty societies 
of various kinds for the promotion of the general welfare. Five 
hundred and thirty of these are agricultural, fifty rehgious, and 
fifty benevolent. 

The cantonal colours are green and white, in equal propor- 
tions, the words ^^ Liberty and Country ^^ appearing upon the 
white ground of their escutcheon. The inhabitants are Protes- 
tant in greater proportion even than in Geneva ; and in no 
other canton has equality a more genuine reality, or are the com- 
forts of material life more universally distributed. This is a 
testimony we like to render as a proof that a proper attention 
to health and personal comfort does not interfere with the 
flights of fancy, the designs of art, or the investigations of 
philosophy. We have counted more than sixty celebrities 
among their authors and artists, some twenty of whom were 
poets, novelists, and painters. 

We need not tell Americans that Agassiz was born on the 
banks of Lake Leman, nor enumerate his titles to the honours 
his own country and ours have bestowed upon him ; and we do 



VAUD. 137 

not know which is the most proud — the httle canton to have 
given him birth, or America to have adopted him.* 

* In the village of Yverdon, at the foot of Lake Neuchatel, Pestalozzi established one 
of his schools. The English guide-book says it was broken up, and he was obliged to 
flee, and that however good his theories and system of teaching, he succeeded miserably 
himself in putting them in practice. On what authority they make the statement they 
do not say, but there is no truth in it. Troubles which had nothing to do with his sys- 
tem or practice of teaching obliged him to leave Yverdon, from which place he went to 
the father of Fellenberg, who received him with open arms, and offered him apartments 
in his castle to open a school. He was not very prepossessing in his appearance, and 
Emanuel Fellenberg, being then a child, thought as he saw him coming that he was a 
beggar, but the narrative his father gave him of the noble life and sacrifices of his 
friend, made an impression upon his character which influenced his whole life. The 
following extract from one of his private letters will show the spirit in which he taught, 
and with such a spirit he could not help being a good teacher: 

" I was from morning till evening in their midst ; all that could happen to them in 
soul and love they received from me. My hand rested in their hand, and my eye rested 
on theirs. My laugh accompanied theirs, and my tears flowed with theirs. They were 
excluded from the world ; they were by me and I by them, I had nothing — no house- 
hold, no friend, no servant around me ; I had only them." 

Like all those who originate something new, and great, and good, he was derided, 
and had enemies. He struggled, too, with adversity and many obstacles ; but if, as 
John Muller said, " He who founds a school is greater than he who conquers a pro- 
vince," Pestalozzi is greater than a hundred princes and generals, for he is the real 
founder of hundreds and thousands of schools. 




CHAPTER IX. 



GENEVA. 



CALVIN — JEWS — LAKE LEMAN — WATCH-MAKING — -SOCIAL LIFE — SWIMMING 
SCHOOLS FOR GIRLS. 



There is perhaps no city in Switzerland which exhibits so great 
a degree of intellectual activity as Geneva, though it still par- 
takes something of the severity of Calvin and the reformers of 
his age. Not only the social life, but the legislative and judicial 
proceedings, still bear the impress of his sternness and rigidity. 

When they threw off the yoke of the bishops in 1535, and 
declared themselves independent, they adopted the new religion, 
and Calvin became their judge and legislator. He made the 
laws, organised the Church, and founded the schools. His active 
mmd was everywhere, and the traces of it exist still in every insti- 
tution. Many of his measures seem very rude and barbarbous 
now, but he thought them necessary in the turbulent times in 
which he lived. His doctrine was not considered exactly demo- 
cratic at the time he preached it, and there are more perhaps in 
these days than then in his native city who are of a similar 
opinion. They are not a remarkably devout people, or their devo- 
tions are performed somewhere besides at the foot of the altar. 

188 



GENEVA. 139 

They passed throngh all the gradations of spiritual and 
political emancipation common to the nations struggling against 
foreign and domestic tyranny, ignorance, bigotry, and prejudice, 
and their statute-books exhibit the same inconsistencies we have 
found in their sister cities. While they offered refuge to all who 
fled to them from persecution on account of difference of belief 
in certain dogmas, they imprisoned and tortured by hundreds 
those who were accused of being "possessed of devils," or hav- 
ing intercourse with familiar spirits. Towards the end of the 
sixteenth century, five hundred were condemned for witchcraft 
in the course of three months, and suffered the various penalties 
invented for such criminals in those days of darkness and super- 
stition. 

They were not really one of the members of the Swiss Confede- 
racy till 1814, though they became the allies of Berne in 1526, 
and of Zurich in 1584. Rousseau and Yoltaire pronounced their 
freedom and happiness without alloy, and sung of them as pos- 
sessing almost an Utopia ; but they have since made many 
changes, and if they deserved then to be called a liberal and 
liberty-enjoying people, they deserve it still more at the present 
time. 

In Geneva, the Jew is not subject to a single restriction from 
law, custom, or manners ; yet there are not two hundred within 
their limits. In some of the restrictive cantons the plea is made 
that, if they admit them at all, " they shall be flooded with low 
Jews ;" but it seems to be proved, that where they are treated 
like other people, they are not inferior in ambition or self-respect. 
In Alsatia, one of the southern provinces of France, there are 
forty thousand, and their children all attend school, and their 
employments are the same as those of so many people of any 
other nation. They are driven to peddling and mean offices by 



140 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

the narrow-minded policy of Christians ; and where allowed to 
pursue honourable callings, the proportion is not greater than 
among others of the mean, exacting, and dishonest. 

The laws concerning Jews, in Switzerland, do not seem to be 
connected at all with the peculiar faith of the cantons ; as in 
one, which is entirely Protestant, they are free ; and in another, 
like Bale, the policy is most illiberal and restrictive. 

Tessino is the most thoroughly Catholic canton, and the Jew 
has there every privilege of other citizens ; and also in the 
Catholic cantons, Eriburg and Yalais ; while in Schwytz and 
Zug they are not allowed to come even within their borders. In 
Zurich they do not allow a Jew to live, trade, or own land, 
without the consent of the commune where they wish to settle, 
and Lucerne does not grant naturalization to Jew or Christian 
either, as a right, but will sometimes bestow it as a favour. In 
Unterwald, the law prohibits them to reside, but they say 
no Jew ever asked the privilege 1 In Protestant Glarus, they 
are liberal ; and in Protestant Appenzell, they are again 
restrictive. 

It is impossible to reconcile these inconsistencies, otherwise 
than by the influence of families and local prejudice ; and these 
do not seem sufficient to account for differences on this subject, 
or any other within so small a circle as the limits of Switzerland. 
Yet, in some cantons lying contiguous, there is scarcely any 
more resemblance in character, laws, or customs, than in people 
separated by seas. 

Geneva is little more than twelve leagues in extent, and is 
surrounded by Catholics ; and, except the part lying on the 
lake, and one Uttle almost invisible corner which touches Canton 
Yaud, is entirely bordered by empires and monarchies. In suc- 
cession, Kome, Germany, Prance, and Savoy have quarrelled 



GENEVA. 141 

with her and about her, the one rending her in twain, and the 
other appropriating her in totum, century after century ; and 
yet she stands there, the proud little canton ; never losing her 
nationality, or allowing others to mistake her identity. She is 
Geneva through all time and all changes. 

Lake Leman is first mentioned by Caesar, who found it 
already bearing this name, or Liman, the Lake of the Desert. 
It is a pity it should not have retained one so poetical, and one 
which would admit the other cantons bordering on the sea to an 
equal participation, which would be no more than right, when 
she waters a larger portion of their territory than the one which 
shares her cognomen. It will seem very prosy to pass it by 
without some rhapsody, but nearly two hundred poems and 
romances have been written on its shores since Rousseau sung 
of " Clarens, sweet Clarens," * and among the authors are 
Byron, Lamartine, and Victor Hugo. Their "beauties" are 
in every guide book, and neither Mont Blanc, the Jura, or 
'' sweet, placid Leman," could receive any additional honour from 
our pen ; but let no one presume that our heart has failed in its 
homage. 

Zeneva was the original word for Geneva, and in the middle 
ages the city was known as 'Gehenna. Her escutcheon is 
emblematical of her history, not having been changed since a 
century before her independence. A perpendicular line divides 
it into two equal parts, exhibiting on one side a field of gold 
with the half of a black eagle, and another side red, with a key 
turned wrongside up. The Landweibel appear also in yellow 
and red on election-day, the Ted being predominant. The arms 
were borrowed from the empire and Church, and signify the 
double rule to which the city was subjected in the middle ages. 

* Byron's words. 



142 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The rural population * occupy only one third of the canton, 
and on an average every two families own real estate. The 
manufacture of watches is the great industry of city and country, 
and busy fingers are at work upon the curious and almost invisi- 
ble machinery, not only in the shops of the city, but in families 
as they have leisure, and in the cottages scattered here and 
there in the country. 

The history and process of watchmaking are familiar to 
readers of all countries. In Germany it dates to the middle of 
the fourteenth century. We read of a watch presented to 
Charles Y., in 1350, not larger than an almond. A goldbeater 
of Italy sent one to Duke Urbin, in 1542, small enough to be 
set in a ring. Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, left one to 
his brother. Bishop Ely, mounted on the head of an Indian 
gold-headed cane. 

The society or corporation of watchmakers in France received 
their first regulations or laws from Louis XI., in 1483 ; and as 
an art, watchmaking was introduced into Switzerland in 158t, 
but did not become a science till the seventeenth century. 

After the discovery of the oscillation of the pendulum by 
Galileo, other discoveries and improvements followed each other 
in quick succession, and clocks began to strike in every kitchen, 
and watches to tick in every pocket. Here they are within the 
means of the cook and the chambermaid, who do not seem to 
look upon them as any special ornament, but as useful only in 
telling when the meat is sufficiently roasted, or Monsieur will 
return to his lunch. 

In Geneva the first laws concerning this industry are dated in 
the year 1600 ; and in 1685 there were one hundred master 
watchmakers, finishing five thousand watches. 

* The rural life is nearly the same as in Canton Vaud. 



GENEVA. 143 

Towards the end of the seventeenth century clocks were 
applied to the determination of longitudes, and the mainspring 
and regulator perfected by scientific Englishmen, repeaters in- 
vented, and weights employed in marine clocks. 

Two distinguished Frenchmen, Romilly and Le Roy, whose 
names are familiar wherever a pendulum swings, invented the 
best methods of measuring tune at sea ; and these inventions 
have been perfected till there seems nothing more to be done, 
but to make clocks and watches after the most approved 
patterns. Those who manufacture them now in greatest abun- 
dance know very little of the scientific principle upon which they 
go ; and machines have been constructed which fashion by means 
of steam and water power many of the most difficult parts. 
Those which are still the work of hands are scattered in different 
places, one making all the pointers and another all the wheels, a 
third produces a sprmg, and a fourth the pendulums, neither 
having the least idea of the use of the several parts, and no 
more idea of the really wonderful little watch as a whole, than 
he who makes ploughs or polishes curling irons. But they can- 
not be put together or kept in order without comprehending the 
principle upon which th«y are constructed, as well as the me- 
chanism by which they are kept in operation. 

The watchmaking industry attained its greatest height in 
1*789, when the city of Geneva alone employed four thousand 
workmen, besides two or three thousand in the country and in 
Savoy. In the year 1819, seventy thousand were finished, but 
now not more than half this number annually, though there are 
forty-seven factories for making the cases alone. They produce, 
besides, a million of dollars' worth of jewellery, employing 
between one and two thousand persons, of whom several hundred 
are women. 



144 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

Geneva gold is considered the finest, and her ornaments the 
most beautiful. Some people profess to be able to distinguish 
them in the midst of any crowd. In order to prevent fraud, the 
government appoints a committee of surveillance, who inspect 
every workshop and all the articles made in it, to be sure no un- 
lawful weights or measures are used and no false alloy. The 
amount of gold used annually is seventy-five thousand ounces, 
besides five thousand marks of silver, and five hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars worth of precious stones. 

The French custom-house allows each person to carry two 
Geneva watches across the border free, but for each one extra a 
duty of one dollar is demanded, which is very little compared to 
the ancient tariff, but perhaps the profit is not less to them, as 
smuggling has proportionally decreased. 

The first steamboat was placed upon the lake by an American 
in 1843, and was named the William Tell; now there are three 
or four in summer, and two in winter. All do not pass through the 
lake who visit the city, as many go directly through Savoy to 
Italy. The number of passports viseed in Geneva in a year 
is between twenty and thirty thousand ; and in one year 
the number who travelled by the different public convey- 
ances in all Switzerland was within six weeks five hundred 
thousand. 

Four hundred emigrants from Geneva and Canton Yaud 
founded the Geneva of the New World in 1803, and a colony 
from Yevay in 1801, at the other end of the lake, founded New 
Yevay and Monterey in Indiana, where they planted the first 
vines. Several hundi-ed went in 1833 from Bernese Oberland 
to Canada, and there is an Alpina in New York, a Glarus in 
Wisconsin, a Highland in St. Louis, and a settlement from 
Basle and Appenzell in Kentucky, all baptising their homes in 



GENEVA. 145 

the New World with some appellation which reminded them of 
those they had left in the Old. 

The English guide-book, upon the authority of some writer 
not mentioned, in alluding to the influence of Calvin in G-eneva, 
remarks, that "He was chosen member of the consistory ; and 
that this was scarcely inferior to an inquisition, claiming the 
right to examine people's private affairs and those of their 
families, making laws concerning dress, and punishing all offen- 
ders with the greatest severity." As a specimen of these enact- 
ments they give the following, '' that a dinner for ten persons 
shall be limited to five dishes ; that no one should be allowed to 
wear plush breeches ; violations of the Sabbath were to be 
publicly reproved, adultery punished with death, and the games- 
ter to be obliged to stand in the pillory with a pack of cards 
tied round his neck." 

They might have found far more ridiculous ones than these ; 
but we have sufficiently shown in the extracts we have given 
from the statute-books of other cantons that this peculiar and 
excessive legislation did not originate with Calvin, and was not 
confined to Geneva alone. In Catholic Lucerne at the same 
time the laws were of the same character ; and the scrutiny of 
the Government in all private affairs was not less severe, though 
the Church was subject to the state, and the clergy had nothing 
to do with the temporal power. It was the fault of the times, 
and among all nations the same. It is not many years since it 
was the law of England that no Roman Catholic should possess 
a horse that cost more than five pounds ; and we saw the other 
day, that a magistrate had been fined in an American city for a 
violation of the Sabbath, though his sin was merely driving in a 
carriage, and what nobody now considers a sin, only that the 
law made a half century ago still remained on the statute-book, 

7 



146 THE COTTAGES OF TflE ALPS. 

and some enemy availed himself of the opportunity to make the 
accusation. 

In Germany and Austria this legislation concerning all these 
minuti^ still exist, just as it did in England and America two 
hundred years ago ; the Government exercising a constant 
supervision and interference in the petty daily routine of indivi- 
vidual life. No laws of Calvin were more ridiculous than those 
now enforced every day in these imperial and princely domi- 
nions ; and those who will examine the early provisions of the 
Puritans, will see that they began by taking the same care, med- 
dling continually with what should be left to every person's 
private judgment. 

In Switzerland there was scarcely any attempt to revise the 
laAV codes till within fifty years, and some stood in all their 
pristine barbarity till 1848, and a few are not changed yet. 
But Geneva is not of this number. The government of Calvin 
was austere, and his measures rigorous in the extreme ; but what 
was particularly evil in his legislation ceased long ago, while 
the schools he founded and the systems of unprovement he insti- 
tuted still exist. He was a misanthrope, not from his religion, 
but from his physical temperament. Zwinglius, with equal zeal 
in the same cause, was a social, genial man, not censorious even 
in those cold, harsh times, but tempering the truth he preached 
with a love and sympathy that made it all the more welcome. 

All manner of benevolent and reformatory institutions are 
as numerous in Geneva as in Basle ; and though it is not yet 
much to boast of, their affabihty and hospitality are a little more 
Christian and modern than in some other places. 

In some respects the customs of society are the same in 
Switzerland as in Germany ; in others, they are as different as 
if there were no relationship between them in language or conti- 



GENEVA. 147 

giiitv. It is one of the unaccountable things to the solution of 
which we can never find any clue, how there should spring up 
here and there a point of etiquette, a peculiarity of dress, a 
manner of cooking, to distinguish a few who are in all other 
respects alike. 

One sees, immediately on entering Switzerland, that women 
are much more free than in Germany. They are everywhere 
alone, walking, riding, visiting ; and one feels instantly in any 
of their towns or villages that there is no such scrutiny or gossip 
about a lady who may be travelling or residing among them for 
any purpose, either secret or revealed. They are altogether 
more given to minding their own affairs, for the reason, perhaps, 
that they would have very little time for anything else, if they 
undertook to look after those of people who pass through or stop 
a little while among them. 

The most peculiar of their customs in social life is the formal 
arrangement of children into circles of friendship called Sodetes 
de Dimanche, which continue through life. The parents select 
ten or twelve in the famihes of their acquaintances of the same 
age as their own, and they meet every week on Sunday, when 
children, to play, and as they grow older, to talk and dance, each 
child of the family having a circle of its own, the brothers and 
sisters not belonging to the same. When very young, the parents 
or guardians are present at their meetings ; but as they grow 
older they are left to themselves, and the bonds of friendship 
and the promises of matrimony are formed with indissoluble ties, 
almost without the knowledge of others. 

Chaperoning and matronizing are not at all the necessities they 
are in England, France, or Germany. Young ladies and gentle- 
men have pic-nics, rides, and excursions by themselves ; and from 
all we can learn, conduct themselves as properly, and remain 



148 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

through life as worthy, as the ladies of any other nation. But 
these circles to which they are confined tend to make them exclu- 
sive, narrow-minded, and awkward. Being accustomed from 
cliildhood to associate with a few in so intimate a manner, they 
are not at ease in the presence of others ; they have no general 
topics of conversation, know nothing of the world, and, the 
society thus furnished them being sufficient, they take no interest 
in any one beyond it, for the purpose of pleasure or benevolence. 
We do not know how general this custom may be, but find it in 
the principal towns from the extreme north, Basle and Schaff- 
hausen, to the extreme south. We never heard of anything of 
the kind in Germany, yet at a ball or party the supper and 
other ceremonies are nearly the same in both countries. Among 
the eight or ten thus bound together by the most intimate ties 
of friendship, each is also the confidante of some one in particular, 
to whom are confided all her secrets, to whom she goes for coun- 
sel, and whom she prefers in all things to any member of her own 
family. Sisters are often strangers to each other, and often, too, 
estranged by these very means. The members of the circle to 
which each belongs may not have the benefit of ordinary acquaint- 
ance. They are not necessary to each other, because their 
sympathies are enlisted elsewhere. Between parents and child- 
ren it is the same. It is strange a mother can be thus willing 
to renounce the affection and confidence of a daughter. The 
arrangement is with special reference to keeping them in what 
they deem " first society," and preserving them from plebeian 
associations. The boys of the circle are selected from famihes 
which render them proper matches for the girls, and with the 
hope that a mutual attachment will be formed. This is often the 
case, and an engagement made before the parents know any- 
thing of the matter. If anything so fortunate does not happen 



GENEVA. 149 

they look around among those outside the ckcle for a suitable 
connexion, and with those whom the parents think proper the 
daughter must be satisfied. 

When acquainted with the details of such an institution, one 
no longer wonders at the unsociality and exclusiveness of the 
Swiss. We almost wonder that they possess even a remnant of 
human sympathy ; and many people who dwell among them for 
years really beheve they do not. But, as we have elsewhere 
shown, it is not among the lowly that we find these things, and 
we have seen them when enjoying the liberty and benefits of 
another institution, where we have obtained a much more agree- 
able impression. 

The swimming schools of Switzerland and Germany are more 
worthy of imitation. These are now miiversal ; and along 
the banks of lakes and rivers are to be seen everywhere the 
little temples for the exercise of these graces. We have seen 
twenty or thirty at a time floating on the blue waves of Lake 
Leman, and sporting in Zurich's bright waters, and never saw a 
merrier sight. The art of swimming is now considered an 
accomphshment, like that of dancing or drawing, and we think 
may very reasonably rank above both. It conduces far more 
to health, and quite as much to elegance and grace. 

The arrangements are temporary in most places, being re- 
moved in winter, and consist of rows of rooms along the shore 
for dressing, from which they descend by stairs to the water, 
where a large inclosure is formed of boards, and, if the water 
is deep, a floor made of planks, but all so loosely that the cur- 
rent of water is not suspended, but kept constantly fresh. A 
lady is the teacher, and for those who are not expert, cords are 
stretched from side to side to be ready in case of accident, and 
for convenience in walking about; and around the waist a band, 
which connects with one held by the teacher, who leaves it loose 



150 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

until danger requires it to be called to their aid. They are first 
taught to balance themselves on the water, then to use the 
limbs, and when thoroughly at ease, all supports are thrown off 
and they glide about like dolphins, and splash like so many por- 
poises, turning somersets, swimming upon then* backs, and per- 
forming all manner of gymnastics, with no more fear than the 
natives of the watery element. No exercise can be so healthful, 
as it calls into play every muscle, is exhilarating, and, with so 
many together, a diverting amusement, as it admits of the 
utmost abandon without possibility of danger to morals or 
delicacy. They have a uniform of red, or white, or grey, accord- 
ing to their taste, so loose as not to interfere with free motion, 
and black oil silk caps for the hair. Often they pass the limits 
of their little domain, and sail far out into the open water, a 
phalanx of mermaids, and would certainly not be the timid crea- 
tures women usually are if wrecked on the ocean. We should 
like to know that every sea and river in America could exhibit 
a similar scene. 

The list of savans in Geneva would equal that of Zurich in 
length, and no words of ours could add to their renown. It was 
not the birth-place of Calvin, but was the theatre of his labours, 
and of many of the scarcely less bright and shining lights of his 
time. His house is still the Mecca of Protestant pilgrim^. 
Kousseau was born in Geneva, and she gave Solone to England, 
Le Clerc to Holland, Lefort to Russia, and Keekar to France. 
Here, too, was the home of Yernet, of De Luc, Provost, Baul- 
acre, Romilly, Le Sage, Diodati, Mallet, Pictet, Berenger, 
D'lvernois, and Jalabert. Yoltaire did not live in the city, but 
it was the scenery around her waters that tempted him to form 
his little paradise at Ferner, and that has tempted from time to 
time nearly all the beatix esprits of Paris; and her lake has been 
the nucleus around which have gathered those of all the world, 



GENEVA. 15 I 

especially the uufortunate who must fly from oppression, or who 
sought a solace for their misfortunes. The history of these 
alone would form an interesting volume, without including what 
they have themselves written. Byron found it " beautiful as a 
dream ;" and one can almost rejoice at the affliction which sent 
him forth a lonely wanderer when he reads the " Prisoner of 
Chillon," '' Manfred," and " Childe Harold," the songs which he 
sang on Geneva's banks. Madame de Stael, surrounded by her 
brilhant coterie, hved at Cojpjpet. The new castle was owned 
first by Count Dolina, and next fell into the hands of a rich 
banker of St. Gall, not a miUionaire merely, but the lord of 
many milUons. In the reign and through the injustice of Louis 
XIY. he was despoiled, and died in the miserable hut of a poor 
woman of Yersailles. It then became the possession of the 
minister of tliis king, the father of Madame de Stael. She was 
the magnet which attracted all the sages, philosophers, and 
literati of the then known world — a constellation perhaps the 
most brilliant which has ever shone upon it. Napoleon scattered 
them to the four winds, though he could not put out their hght 
— alas I that he should have learned afterwards so bitterly what 
it was to be a fugitive and exile. There is scarcely a sod of 
the republic which has not been pressed by the foot of the 
unfortunate. When will despots learn to make their own so 
free that they may walk it over without fear, and meet their 
own subjects without trembhng ? 

TVe need not mention D'Aubigne, whose " History of the 
Reformation," enchanting as romance, is read in every village 
of America. There are still wise men in her university, and 
literati, both men and women, whose names will be recorded by 
future historians as worthy to stand side by side with those of 
the past. 




CHAPTER X. 

FRIBURG. 

GRUYERE CHEESE — GESSENAY SHEPHERDS — CHEESE ARISTOCRACY — SWISS 
SONG INFLUENCE OP AMtSEMENTS — LEGENDS. 

If one mentions having been in Friburg, he is immediately 
asked, " Did you hear the organ, and did you taste of Gruyere 
cheese V^ The organ is in the church of St. iNiicholas, and 
called the first in the world. Its size is that of a small church, 
and its music that of all the spheres, and, of course, indescribe- 
able. The cheese we tasted on shipboard, while crossing the 
Atlantic, and have never ventured to do so since, even when in 
theu' midst. They are made among the mountains which occupy 
the southern part of Friburg, the northern part of Yqjais, and 
the western part of Berne ; all bearing the name of Gruyere, 
one of the oldest, quaintest, and most curious of all the old 
towns in Switzerland. 

Among these Alpine pastures may be seen all the grades of 
shepherd life, and every variety of mountain scenery. On the 
heights of Gessenay one may go to sleep in Lapland and awake 
in Sicily, if he spends the night in almost any of its huts, which 
the rocks cover so completely that not a ray of the sun pcne- 

152 



FRIBUKG. 153 

trates the atmosphere till in all its midday splendour it bursts 
upon the view, and for a little while the heat is so intense that 
the same rocks are sought for shelter which a few hours before 
seemed like icebergs. 

The whole region is one vast pasture-land ; and the people, 
father, mother, and children, are shepherds. They have no per- 
manent residences in summer, but, literally, not only take up 
then: beds, but their houses, apd walk. The same is true of the 
Simmenthal. Each hill is covered thickly with houses, not with 
a proprietor in every one, but many being the property of an 
individual, those for the cattle having nearly the same appearance 
as those for a family. 

They are all built of wood, the upper story consisting of long 
timbers of pine, so arranged as to give free course to the air, 
and the roof kept in place by great stones. Each beam and 
rafter is numbered and called by name, so that if "the winds 
blow, and the floods come to beat upon the house," the fall 
thereof may be great, but the misfortune can be easily remedied. 
It does not take long to rebuild ; and though it is upon a rock, 
and not upon s'and, they are very often carried away. Like the 
Arab, they travel with their tents, though they are of wood and 
stone instead of cloth ; and they cross ravines and ford streams 
instead of wading through the sands of the desert. 

There is scarcely an acre of cultivated ground to be seen ; 
now and then a little hemp or flax, or patch of potatoes ; bat 
it is only within the last half century that they have thought of 
eating bread, and when wheat was introduced it created almost 
a revolution. It was one of those dangerous innovations, which 
must first be mentioned cautiously, lest the State should be 
placed in peril, and extravagance corrupt the people I They 
used to bake little barley cakes, which, like sea-biscuit, were 



154 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

affected by no changes, and enough were made in spring to last 
through all their migrations. 

Their wealth is cheese, and their heirlooms are also cheese. 
Whoever enters the right storehouse, may see one bearing the 
date of 1643. By some they are asserted to improve by 
keeping, and others declare them to be no better tlian sawdust 
when past a certain age ! For ourselves, they seem the same 
whether old or young, and to have in them no good thing ; yet 
they go as luxuries beyond the Mississippi and the Ganges, to 
America, India, and the islands of the seas. These tufted knolls 
afford nourishment, not only to the tenants of the cot, but to 
the proudest prince and nabob in his palace. 

But, not only is cheese their wealth and heirlooms, but the 
basis of their aristocracy. The shepherds of Gessenay and the 
surrounding Alps are also magistrates and other officials, and 
yet do not disdain to drive their own cows to pasture, and 
superintend the operations of the dairy. They are the simplest 
of herdsmen, and have no higher ambition. 

But a little lower are the dwellers in the ample and pictu- 
resque chalets, with servants to whom they say, "Go, and he 
goeth ; come, and he cometh." They neither drive cows them- 
selves, nor milk them ; they are a few feet below their neigh- 
bours, and feel many degrees above them. We descend yet a 
little, and find those who only buy and sell the cheese after it 
is deposited in the storehouse : they are financiers ; neither 
manufacturers nor petty dealers, but wholesale and commission 
merchants, not at all to be classed with the people at the middle 
or top of the mountain. 

The size of the cheese has also something to do with defining 
this aristocracy. Great proprietors with large pastures make 
larger cheeses, and sell them at greater advantage. Like all 



FKIBURG. 155 

other people who have the means, they indulge in luxuries, and 
assume something of state, though dwelling in a chalet. Others 
imitate them as they become able, and thus follow all ranks, till 
the owner of a few cows in a single Sennhut among the rock 
ends the train. 

But cheese are also subject to the fluctuations of the market ; 
and, in these cases, those '' of giant mould " are the first to feel 
the effects. Then the little cheeses begin to look up, and aris- 
tocracy bows its head ; the levelling principle applied to the 
next of rank is upwards and not downwards ; and so the little 
world is balanced among those solitudes in the same way as in 
the city among millionaires. 

With the shepherds of Gessenay, every move is a fete ; and 
when they have only to cross a stream, or exchange one side hill 
for another, or mount to the top of the next ledge, the procession 
is arranged in the same order ; the cow with the silver bell taking 
the lead, the master of the troop with his shrill horn, and the 
young men and maidens, crowned with flowers, following accord- 
ing to their rank, singing songs and filling the air with merry 
music. The picture of pastoral life is far pleasanter when whole 
families dwell also in huts on the mountain, as it relieves the 
dreary solitude, which one cannot help thinking is neither plea- 
sant nor healthful. 

We are almost ready to say with the proverbial line, 
*' Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." Here there is 
evidently the happiness which consists in ignorance and care- 
lessness of all the world beside. No prince looks with more 
complacency upon his subjects than he who sits upon some great 
boulder and watches his herds, one group descending a steep, 
another coming out of a wood, a third traversing a prairie, till 
all are collected around him ; not less proud or tenacious of 



156 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

their rank than the " Geheimrathe " and " Obergerichtsrathe " 
of Deutschland around the throne. The songs of the milkers are 
not from cowboys alone, though theirs are sufficiently merry. 

"the SWISS BOY. 

I. 

" Come, arouse thee, arouse thee, my brave Swiss boy ! 

Take thy pail, and to labour away. 
Come, arouse thee, arouse thee, my brave Swiss boy ! 

Take thy pail, and to labour away. 
The sun is up with ruddy beam. 

The kine are thronging to the stream, 
Come, arouse thee, arouse thee, my brave Swiss boy ! 

Take thy pail, and to labour away. 



" Am not I, am not I, say, a merry Swiss boy, 
When I hie to the mountains away ? 

For then a shepherd maiden dear 
Awaits ray song with listening ear. 

Am not I, am not I, then, a merry Swiss boy. 
When I hie to the mountains away ? 



" Then at night, then at night, oh ! a gay Swiss boy ! 
I'm away, to my comrades away. 
The cup we fill, the wine in passed 

In friendship round, until at last. 
With good night, and good night, goes the happy Swiss boy 
To his home and his slumbers away !" 

Because " a maiden dear, may await his song with listening 
ear," it follows, that loves and marriages both take place whilst 
they are watchmg the herds and tending the flocks, but they 
are usually deferred to be solemnized on festal days in the vil- 
lage during the winter. 



FJRIBURG. 15 T 

The well-meant but ill-directed zeal of the reformers led them 
to forbid the dance and song and festive mirth, not knowing 
that, unless they substituted something in their place, they only 
produced an aching void, which drove the revellers to darker 
deeds. The human muid cannot Hve on vacancy, and it must 
be one of marvellous construction that can support itself on 
solitude. Statistics prove, that excitement does not cause so 
much insanity as meditation ; and not so many cases of madness 
occur in great cities as in rural solitudes. The first case of sui- 
cide among these simple Alpine people was known when they 
were condemned to practice the forms of a new religion without 
understanding anything of its spirit. Neither their minds nor 
hearts had received any cultivation that fitted them for a serious 
and earnest hfe. What were they to do or think about, sud- 
denly condemned to idleness, with no food for thought, and no 
idea of even the meaning of meditation ? 

Statistics also prove that there are not so many cases of 
insanity among Catholics generally, as among Protestants. One 
reason may be that the assurances which they continually receive 
of pardon, and their credulity with regard to the ef&cacy of the 
means they use for salvation, preserve them from disturbing 
doubts and fears, and the amusements which they are allowed 
divert them from speculations which avail nothing even with 
strong and healthy intellects, and must surely destroy weak 
ones, if they do not utterly distract them. 

We do not give this as an argument in favour of Catholicism, 
but only as a fact. There is no reason why Protestants should 
not be as happy as CathoUcs. Those who are ignorant, or 
those who need it for any reason, whether of one faith or 
another, should be furnished with healthful amusement ; and 
those who are content with intellectual cultivation and resources, 



158 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

should endeavour for an hour to conceive what they would do 
without them. 

A lady sits in her pleasant parlour, surrounded by every com- 
fort, and reads, in the columns of a newspaper, that '' there is 
to be a ball on Sunday evening, for servants and apprentices." 
She exclaims in great horror against such a desecration of the 
Sabbath, and wonders how people can indulge in such low 
amusements. We do not say so to her, but we are very sure, had 
these people possessed her advantages for cultivation, and had 
they a beautiful house hke hers in which to receive company, and 
could they purchase as many books and pictures, be entertamed 
with music, and surround themselves with every luxury to mmister 
to thek senses or their souls, they would never once think of a 
dance in a miserable inn. To give them her pleasures till they are 
capable of enjoying them, would be no kindness; but how many 
of them would she be willing to deny herself, in order that they 
might be elevated and purified to enjoy what she does ? 

It is the testimony of every traveller, that the difference be- 
tween Catholic and Protestant Switzerland is observed instan- 
taneously when the line is crossed which divides them. The 
Catholics are not so intelligent, not so well clothed, and Uve not 
in so good houses. They usually occupy the regions most cold 
and rugged. Among the shepherds they form the greatest pro- 
portion. Their life is simple, their amusements many, and their 
religious ceremonies performed with a grandeur which attracts 
and wins them. They are happy on earth, and believe they are 
fitted for heaven. They do not see the need of anything more. 

A Frenchman soliloquizes concerning them in the follovdng 
manner : " Protestants spread in the valleys and liities, and are 
industrious and rich. They have manufactories and gazettes — 
they calculate rather than live: Their lives are passed between 



FRIBUEG. 159 

the comptoir and manufactory. They give to the service of 
God only the tmie when they can do nothing else. Sober, cold, 
and quiet — they are rich. It is not the fault of the politicians 
of Basle that they do not set a printing-press or factory on every 
pinnacle of the Alps ; but when they have made the shepherds 
as wise as journahsts, of Capuchins philanthropists, of the herds- 
men as many weavers as at St. Gall, or heaux espits as at 
Lausanne, what will they gain ? With all the effort and good- 
will in the world, could they make finer men than at Appenzell, 
or more beautiful women than at Engleberg ? All science 
could not make the pastures produce anything but grass, or the 
milk anything but cheese 1 Should they live in palaces, could 
they breathe a better air than on the Alps, or repose on bank- 
notes, could they sleep more sweetly than in their cots ? Would 
they be more happy, when with more wealth they had acquired 
more care ? And should it ever happen, that another revolu- 
lution swept over Switzerland, would not the men of Uri or 
Yalais defend their country as bravely as a gazetteer of Aargau, 
a rhetorician of Lausanne, or a banker of Basle ?" 

This reasoning sounds very well, but it is sophistry, neverthe- 
less. They might defend their country as bravely, to be sure, 
but no more so ; and when there is calamity from fire, or sw^ord, 
or pestilence, whose bank-notes build again the cottages, give 
food and clothing to the poor, and bid peace and plenty smile 
again in the desolate land ? For centuries, the monks and their 
estabhshments were supported by collections from every part of 
Switzerland ; and the poor who crossed the mountains in their 
pilgrimages, or to sell their cattle and produce, were entertained 
free, and if they were sick, had every care " without money and 
without price.-' 

It is not the whole of religion to attend church or make long 



160 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

and many prayers. That this proves a very pleasant and profit- 
able diversion to those who have no other way of spending their 
time we doubt not ; but there is a higher faith and better 
charity than this. It requires far more grace to perform well 
the active duties of life than it does to listen to fine music, good 
sermons, or beautiful prayers. A man may be a better Christian 
in a counting-house than in a cathedral, because it depends 
entii-ely on the motive with which he performs the duties of both 
places whether he is a Christian at all. The herdsmen of XJri 
and Yalais may be as good and happy as the merchants of 
Basle, Zurich, and St. Gall, but this is no reason for leaving 
them in ignorance and superstition. jS'either is it of any use to 
make laws forbidding them, or any other class of people, to 
dance or make merry, so long as they are not educated for a 
higher life. Those who preach to them from the pulpit should 
also do more ; and those who sit in pleasant parlours and call 
them heathen, should ask, "What has made the difference 
between me and thee ?" Christ not only preached " the sermon 
on the mount," but he walked about among the people, attended 
their weddings and their feasts, entered their cottages, and par- 
took of their humble fare. Who does not see that the presence 
of superior refinement and intelligence on any of these occasions 
would soften the merriment and refine the character ? Alas I 
from whom shall we expect such an effort and such a sacrifice, 
among all those who deplore the degeneracy and ignorance of 
the people — among those who profess to be the disciples and 
followers of Him who " went about doing good ?" 

The law again allowed the peasants of Gessenay first to dance 
on week-days and at certain annual festivals ; but now there is 
no restriction — they may dance all the year. It was found they 
would resort to the woods and ravines at midnight, and the evil 



FKTBUEG. 161 

consequences became more, and had a more frightful fatality, 
than when they were permitted to assemble at proper times and 
in proper places. 

They have a curious custom of assembling at little inns called 
cabarets, after morning service in church at New Year's Eve, 
every unmarried youth conducting a maiden, whom he has chosen 
for the occasion. They spend two or three days there together, 
and when they leave are betrothed. The marriages are per- 
formed at the Feast of Annunciation, when they go in pairs to 
church, powdered to correspond with their mountains, and the 
bridegroom carrying a long sword. If it is a widow who mar- 
ries, they choose a king, and bear him on their shoulders around 
the village, with great noise and shouting, finishing with theatri- 
cals, representing various scenes in their history. 

A traveller relates, that one day, when climbing the moun- 
tains, he met a young ghl who had sole charge of the flocks and 
herds, no other person being within miles of her. He asked her 
to give him a cup of milk. She answered, " The milk belongs 
to my mother." " But I am very thirsty," said the wanderer. 
She looked down a moment in deep thought, and then ran 
quickly away, and soon returned with a foaming tankard. He 
offered her money, and she said with serious surprise, " You told 
me you were thirsty, and I gave you milk ; what would my 
mother say if I sold her milk ?" 

Similar instances of patriarchal unworldliness are still to be 
met everywhere among the shepherds, and still a thousand years 
may leave them unchanged. So long as their Ufe is so simple, 
their hearts and minds must retain a corresponding childish sim- 
plicity. 

Their superstitions have the same character, and their mytho- 
logy is fashioned according to their mountain domains and their 



162 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

daily labours. Any calamity in tlieir dairies is ascribed to evil 
spirits, and fortunately the countercharm is not less convenient 
tlian the instruments of evil. By striking upon the cauldron of 
cheese, insupportable torments are inflicted upon the invisible 
inhabitants of the air, and put an end to their machinations. 

A young shepherd was tempted to leave his herds and follow 
the chamois, but no success attended him. He wandered far 
2.nd wide, and at length lost his way and sank to the earth from 
weariness and exhaustion. Then appeared one of the spirits of 
the mountain, and said, " The chamois which you hunt are mine, 
why do you make war upon them ? Arise and return to your 
flocks, and if you trespass no more upon my domains, you will 
again prosper." He was then guided by the spirit to his cabin, 
and deserted not again his troops. 

Long ago there lived, in a fertile valley of the Senetsch, an 
old woman, so rich that she could cover with her cheese all the 
way from the village to the mountain, but she was also miserly, 
and so avaricious that she would not give a morsel to the poor 
or the hungry. One day she met a woman very old and desti- 
tute, who begged her for a bit of cheese. She refused, leaving 
her to famish by the wayside. But it was an angel in human 
form, who immediately arose and shook the mountains, so that 
their foundations gave way, and the valley was devastated with 
ruins. To this day it is called "Mont Ferdu/' as a warning to 
all against inhospitality and avarice. 

The inhabitants of Friburg are divided into three distinct 
classes — German, Burgundian, and Roman. In the region of 
Gruyere they belong to the last division, having a peculiar 
language, a peculiar dress, and a peculiar beauty. They wear 
little felt hats, with many flowers, ribbons, and laces. The hair 
is drawn back from the forehead, so tight that it leaves the top 



FEIBUEG. 163 

of the head soon bald, being braided and tied with a velvet rib- 
bon. The scarlet bodice is laced, and very stiff, giving them an 
ungraceful air, especially when old. Among the German popu- 
lation, the dress is like that of Berne, with the exception of little 
black caps crimped up at both sides. In other villages, on the 
borders of Yaud, the head is weighed down with great crushing 
braids of hair, matted with oil, and surrounded with a broad- 
brimmed straw hat. But on festival days scarlet is the univer- 
sal costume, with a black silk apron, a white kerchief on the 
neck, and silver chain, to which is attached a round box, which 
they carry as a charm. 

Bulle, some fifteen miles from Friburg, and near Gruyere, is 
the great dkjpot for the cheeses as they come down from the 
mountains, for the wood which is cut in the forest, and the 
straw which is braided in the valleys. It is here, therefore, that 
the great fairs are held, and droves of fatted cattle come in 
autumn to find purchasers, and where the hats are gathered 
together by hundreds and thousands ; and a little further down, 
at Romont and St. Dennis, the beautiful horses are prancing 
and neighing which have been trained in the little republic to 
form the cavalry legions of kings and emperors. 

Friburg is not less interesting in its history and development 
than the other cantons ; but we have dwelt so long upon the 
present, that we have no room for the past. The people are 
mostly Catholic, and the influence of the priesthood, with that 
of the government, was against culture. Before It 98, there 
was not a school in the country ; and every one who could read 
and write was considered a marvel. But in 180t, the famous 
Peter Girard * commenced a system of instruction which spread 
his renown as a pedagogue throughout Europe, and in 1830 the 

* Girard was a monk. 



164 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

goYernment assumed the care of public education. To send 
theii' children to school from the age of six to fifteen is obliga- 
tory upon all parents ; and the State supports a normal school 
for the preparation of teachers, who have a fund, which the 
government also aids, for the assistance of the sick and infirm. 

The cantonal colours are black and white, in equal propor- 
tions, and the votes at elections given still by the simple 
mode of raising the hands. 

The modern methods of agriculture have been universally 
adopted, and every village has its union dairy, as in Canton 
Yaud, the number of cows having increased many thousands in a 
few years, and the value of each cow also many per cent. 

Straw-braiding, as we have said, is the principal industry, 
besides cheese, and there must be nearly a hundred thousand 
square rods of land devoted to raising rye and wheat to obtain 
the material. Upon this same land, between four and five thou- 
sand quarters of grain would be reaped if it were allowed to 
ripen, thus taking, it might seem, so much from the amount of 
bread in all countries where straw is braided. But, of course, 
without the demand for straw, no such quantities of rye or 
wheat would be sown ; the people know whether it is more 
profitable to make hats or loaves, and would not do the one if 
the other yielded the greater benefit in any way. 

Hunting is a privilege granted by the State, but upon the 
voices of the singing birds there is no price, and they seem to be 
more in number than in any other forests, and sing in sweeter 
strains. The flowers, too, are of marvellous beauty. 

The ladies of the city have the gifts of grace in manner and 
conversation ; but the city itself is so old that its age cannot be 
told, and its beauties are all of the dilapidated order. The 
bridge across the river Saane is, like their organ, one of the 



FRIBUKG. 165 

wonders of the world, and built by natives of the canton, who 
had never seen a suspension-bridge before. The architect was a 
Frenchman. It looks, at a distance, like a thread stretched 
across ; but when it was finished, in 1834, the bishop of the 
town, the members of the government, and two thousand persons 
marched over it twice in procession, preceded by a miUtary band. 
It was one of the grandest gala days in the experience of the 
canton, though popes and cardinals have marched through her 
streets. This was a great triumph of art, and a noble monu- 
ment of their public spirit. 

The architect of their organ was born on their soil, and they 
have produced a painter second only to Holbein. A naturalist 
from Friburg is attached to the royal gardens of Paris, and they 
boast of many historians and military men. 




CHAPTER XI. 

NEUCHATEL. 

QUEEN BERTHA — TROUBLE WITH PRUSSIA — MILITARY SYSTEM — -WATCH- 
MAKING — LANGUAGE. 



The history of Neuchatel has been the most intricate, and her 
life the most turbulent of any of the cantons, and only since two 
years has she been quite settled in full membership with the 
Confederacy. At the time of her alliance, and ever afterwards, 
she was a sort of princedom or landgravate, belonging first to 
one ducal house and then to another, who, either by conquest or 
inheritance, claimed a right to rule over her. 

The country was first held in fief by one of the princes of the 
house of Burgundy ; and in the tenth century. Queen Bertha, 
wife of Rudolph II., ruled, who was beloved in her Hfe, and 
mourned in her death, and whose memory is still precious among 
the people. 

She was called Bertha the Spinner, and in Neuchatel and Can- 
ton Yaud the anecdotes and legends concerning her are the win- 
ter tales and summer visions of every household. She is said to 
have founded the Collegiate Church of Neuchatel, in 938, and 
there to have had her principal castle, though it was then but a 

166 



NETJCHATEL. 167 

small hourg, with a few dwellers in Imts for its inhabitants. 
But she went from village to village, stopping a little time with 
one prince, and then with another ; and as she rode along she 
was an example to all women, for she held the distaff before her, 
"spinning as she went."* Her husband was long absent in 
Italy, and she ruled his subjects as a loving mother rules her 
children. In a httle church in one village, where she is repre- 
sented as having set the example of spinning, is a picture of her, 
under which is written, ^^ Bertha, thehurnhk Queen J' 

She established in every cloister a school for youth, a hospital 
for the sick, and provision for travellers. She caused many for- 
tresses to be built for protection, and her husband also regarded 
the rights of the people ; so that everywhere now, those who 
respect industry, economy, and piety, mention their names with 
the same honour and love as that of the fatherland. 

After a wet winter, the peasants still believe she appears and 
scatters a sackful of treasures over the land. It was she who 
caused the vines to be planted ; and once she saw afar off a 
maiden spinning while she tended her sheep, and bestowed upon 
her gifts to encourage industry. She knew how many eggs were 
laid in her hennery, and attended to her maidens at the wheel, 
and the labourers in the field. 

It is not strange that the descendants of one whose memory 
was so cherished should have also found favour in the eyes of the 
people, though they were far from inheriting her virtues. In 
the course of centuries, the claimants to the little princedom 
became very numerous, so that, in the commencement of the 
thirteenth century, there were thirteen who professed to inherit 
sole right and title to the succession. Their power was not very 

* It is said also that she rode after the fashion of men, otherwise she could not have 
Epun.. 



1C8 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

great, to be sure, as the people guarded jealously their rights 
and privileges ; yet, whoever lived in the castle was called 
^'Prince of Nmdiatdr In ItOt the heirs of one line became 
extinct, and it was necessary to choose another. Frederic I. of 
Prussia was one of the pretenders ; and, because he was a Pro- 
testant, and they were just then very jealous of France and 
Catholicism, they gave the preference to him, exacting, at the 
same time, a promise that he would confirm them in their rights 
and privileges, and not disturb their alhance with the Swiss. 
Thus they remained a century, when, in the wars and treaties 
with Napoleon, France again acquired possession of Neuchatel ; 
and when her fortunes changed once more, it fell back to Prussia. 

In the meantime there had risen a strong party, who wished 
to make the canton a republic and ally on equal terms with the 
other states of the Confederacy ; and the Congress of Vienna, 
in 1815; whilst acknowledging Prussia as nominal chief in Neu- 
chatel, incorporated it also as one of the cantons of the Swiss 
Confederation. So it remained till 1830, with a republican 
party striving to get entirely free from Prussia, and a royalist 
party striving as earnestly to effect a separation from the Swiss. 
The majority of the people wished to belong to Switzerland ; 
and, from its position and relationship, this seemed the most nor 
tural appropriation. 

The French revolution disturbed them again, and it was soon 
found that the half-way connexion was a hindrance, rather than 
a help, to the Confederation. In trouble, Keuchatel could be 
of no service, because she was not free to act her pleasure ; and 
when the new constitution was formed, in 1848, the Confederacy 
refused to admit her on the old terms, and a Prussian army was 
soon on her borders. 

It was evident to both' parties that there could be no more 



NEUCHATEL. 169 

peace without war, yet diplomacy, and the interference of the 
"great powers," deferred an open rupture several years still. 

The royalist party, however, were not idle, and, on the night 
of September 2d, 1856, the people were surprised by a party 
taking possession of the castle, imprisoning the members of the 
Government, and proclaiming the King of Prussia. 

The republicans flew to arms, and their friends in the neigh- 
bouring cantons came quickly to their aid. Seven hundred roy- 
alists were taken prisoners, and the old Government restored. 
Prussia felt bound, of course, " to maintain her honour," and 
succeeded in winning France to join her in threatening all man- 
ner of evils to Switzerland if the rebels in Neuchatel were not 
subdued. 

The Federal Government had not hitherto meddled in the 
matter, as the little canton did not belong to them, but when 
France stood defiant on one side, and Germany offered free pas- 
sage to a Prussian army to march to their destruction, it was 
time for the Government to awake. It was a good opportunity 
of proving their union and their strength ; and there was great 
rejoicing among the crowned heads and the advocates of the 
" right divine," as they were sure an end was now to be made 
for ever of the troublesome republic. 

It was not ten days before the Christmas of 1851 that the 
decree was issued setting forth the danger, and when the festal 
morning arrived it found 16,000 homes deprived of husband, 
son, or brother, who had voluntarily shouldered the gun and 
knapsack, and in an hour transformed themselves into soldiers 
for the defence of the fatherland, and by each Christmas fire 
were the arms of those who remained, to be ready at a moment's 
warning. The forest cantons, who were themselves the rebels 
in the war of the Sonderbund, had already forgotten their 

8 



170 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

private feuds, and rallied to a man around tlie common standard. 
Many, too, in other lands, when the intelhgence reached them, 
hastened home, never thinking a moment of private interests 
when there was a common danger. 

This was an mle3^pected demonstration, and the armies of 
kings and empires resolved to pause before engaging in such a 
strife. Diplomacy was again invoked, and Prussia at length 
resigned her claim to what she had no power to hold, and 
Neuchatel became a member of the Swiss Confederacy. But 
the lovers of court titles and hveries are still many within her 
limits, and their pretensions, if not their hopes, are far from 
being extinguished. 

During these troubles, many families of both parties lost their 
possessions. In Prussia a subscription was opened for the suffer- 
ing nobility, and 112 thalers obtained, which was, a long time 
afterwards, increased by a rich lady to t,525 ! Among the 
Swiss, more than a hundred thousand francs were received im- 
mediately for the families of soldiers who had lost husbands or 
brothers, and in one factory the labourers, eighty-seven in num- 
ber, taxed themselves for this object, and contributed nine 
hundred francs, and the proprietors 1,440. 

A large debt was left by the princely government, which has 
been entirely liquidated by their successors. 

All Switzerland had for the first time acted in perfect unison. 
This increased their confidence, showed them the benefit of one 
united government, and proved to all Europe that neither the 
Government nor its military were to be despised. 

In Switzerland, as in Prussia, every man is required to be a 
soldier when he arrives at the age of twenty years ; but in all 
things else the systems of the two countries have no resemblance. 
For military exercises and instruction no Swiss is required to 



NEUCHATEL. 171 

spend so much time as to interfere with his trade or profession, 
or to prevent his having a home, which will attach him all the 
more to his country, and make him all the more brave in its 
defence. Every town and commune has its muster-ground, 
where certain companies are required to practice two afternoons 
a week, others one, or at specially appointed times. Each 
furnishes his own uniform, which is very simple; but the Govern- 
ment or State supphes the guns and ammunition, drums, 
trumpets, and other musical instruments. These companies 
meet at stated periods for evolutions, and every two years 
there is a grand review, at which every canton, and per- 
haps every company, is represented. At Thoune there is a 
military school for the education of officers and those who 
instruct the companies of the different cantons, which is of course 
supported by the Federal Government, and in every canton an 
arsenal. 

Besides these, schoolboys from ten to fifteen are formed into 
companies, in regular uniform, with arms, music, and colours, to 
be drilled by regular officers with not less care than are those 
who are required by law to learn the same tactics. We have 
seen them marching into town in columns half a mile long, with 
all the regularity of veteran troops. 

The wilhngness with which every man marches, not only to 
the parade-ground, but to the battle-field, is in striking contrast 
to the hatred manifested in Germany to a system which requires 
the sacrifice of the best years of their lives without any hope of 
reward. In 1854, Austria found, in making her usual enrol- 
ments, 1,414 who had voluntarily mutilated themselves for life, 
to get rid of the detested service ; and m the Bavarian Pfalz of 
600,000 inhabitants, during the two years of 1853 and 1854, it 
is found that 9,341 have secretly fled their country to evade the 



172 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

same requirement.* It is not the battle-field or the defence of 
their country which they flee, but the waste of time in life's best 
period, which unfits them for the duties on which life and posi- 
tion depend. 

For the defence of important posts, peculiarly exposed to an 
invading army, strong fortresses have been built ; and a fund 
has been created for the assistance of those who are disabled in 
war, and the families of those who have fallen in battle. This 
fund was increased by a legacy of about five hundred thousand 
dollars, from a rich Genevese, which was certainly a valuable 
and honourable testimony of his confidence in the Federal 
Government and its military system. The facility with which 
they rallied and formed a bulwark on their borders, when the 
last cry of war resounded throughout Europe, proved their capa- 
bilities equal to that of any army in Europe ; and that years 
of discipline do not make legions invulnerable was proved 
when Austrians fell by thousands on Italian plains before French 
and Italian enthusiasm. 

The eagle of Hohenzollern was not only banished from the 
land, but also removed from the escutcheon of the Neuchatelois, 
where it had been engrafted upon the crown, which was origi- 
nally upon their national ensign, with three broken rafters of 
silver upon a shield of red. 'Now appears a small cross upon a 
red stripe, which, with two others of white and green, divides the 
whole into three equal parts, cut vertically. Whether these 
have any reference to the peculiarity of tliis canton in possessing 
three distinct climates, we do not know ; but, though only forty 
square leagues in extent, she is by her lake and her mountains 
as distinctly divided into three zones of frigid, temperate, and 

* Dr. Kolb, of Speier. 



NETJCtlATEL. 173 

torrid. Her pastures occupy one, her cultivated fields another, 
and her vineyards a third. 

Her industry is also divided into three distinct branches — the 
making of lace, printing of calico, and manufacture of watches. 
Trade and commerce experienced from the earliest times scarcely 
any restrictions, and in the last few years villages have grown to 
towns with a rapidity not equalled anywhere on the Continent. 

So early as 1700, laces were made, which were carried by 
colporteurs to the south of France and Italy, and in 1H2 nearly 
three thousand persons were employed in this industry. Not 
only women and children, but aged men are seen with the 
Hoppers, which are confined mostly to Val de Travers, where 
now some five or six thousand devote a portion of their time to 
them, but where agriculture also claims their first attention, and 
the lace, like the ribbons of Basle and the muslin of Appenzell, 
is the knitting-wm-k for the leisure hours. It lies about till it is 
black as smoke and dust can make it, and is then rendered 
beautiful by bleaching and pressing, the whole process being 
more marvellous than in articles wrought with a needle. 

There are still a few of the old houses, where the only chim- 
ney is a few planks, to give a little direction to the smoke, 
which, however, submits itself to no such guidance, till it has 
converted the walls into soot ; but they are fast disappearing, 
and those which take their place are great square buildings, 
ample in all their provisions, with stone-floors and brick chhnneys, 
walls and roofs of wood. 

Moitiers, where Rousseau lived and wrote his " Letters from 
the Mountains," is the most ancient village of Val de Travers ; 
but here, as well as in some of the others, there are very patri- 
cian-looking residences, which may for all we know be inhabited 
by genuine Swiss patricians. 



174 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

We are more interested in those who dwell iu the cottages 
which are scattered among the momitains, or stand in long rows 
along the streets, forming connecting links to the villages. 
Here are the watchmakers. Though they had long been made 
elsewhere, the people of ]S"euchatel had not seen a watch so late 
as 16*19, when an Englishman, who was travelhng through the 
valley of the Sagne, found his own out of order, and asked, if 
there was any one who could repair it. A boy fourteen years 
old, who had become known in the valley for his skill in various 
handicrafts, was recommended, and not only succeeded in setting 
it right, but attempted to make one like it. Six months he 
studied and toiled, and at length completed one, of which every 
part, not only of the interior, necessary to motion, but the case, 
gilding, and engraving, were all made by himself. With the aid 
of his brothers he finished several, all being very simple, aud 
having but one hand. Others learned of them, and in the course 
of half a century they made two or three hundred wiii very 
little improvement in the outward appearance or machinery. 

Towards 1750 three brothers, by the name of Perrelet, in- 
vented many machines to facilitate the manufacture of watches, 
and afterwards made important discoveries in science, which are 
mentioned elsewhere. 

Berthoud, who wrote a celebrated treatise on watchmaking, 
was born in a village of Neuchatel, and his nephew perfected 
marine clocks. Breguet was of a refugee family, and afterwards 
became the most celebrated watchmaker of Paris, where his 
grandson is now the heir of his genius and his wealth. 

Between two and three hundred thousand are finished annually 
among these villages, a great portion of which go to Geneva, 
and gain an extra value in the eyes of purchasers by assuming a 
city name. 



NKUCHATEL. 175 

It is always a curious problem, but alas ! never solved, why 
people choose such dreary solitudes for their habitations, when 
there are thousands of sunny slopes and smiling valleys with 
room enough and to spare. 

Among these mountains of the Jura the sky is black, the air 
is grey, and the snow is blue. In the course of the year they 
have 230 days of rain, or snow, or clouds, and only 135 of clear 
weather. The severe storms are not very many, but the summer 
is one long drizzling rain ; the houses are saturated with water, 
and thus quickly decay, besides having a peculiarly dismal ap- 
pearance ; and the people are not only saddened, but embittered 
by their climate. They are shut out from all the rest of the 
world, absorbed in the labour of very little things, and thus be- 
come narrow and gloomy in their minds and temperaments. 

But the rains keep the summer verdure of a most brilliant 
green, and the winter nights have a peculiar splendour. The 
blue of the sky seems darker than elsewhere, so that the stars in 
their countless myriads seem imbedded in jet, and the little 
shops, brilliantly illuminated for the long evening toil, seem to 
answer to the lights of heaven. 

The snow sometimes falls to the depth of thirty feet, and 
when it has attained the height of two feet, it assumes a beau- 
tiful azure tint, which cannot be reflected from the firmament, 
because it is brightest when the sky is overcast with clouds, a 
fact which no philosopher has yet been able to explain. 

Not only the watches, but all the materials necessary to the 
mechanism are perfected ; and men, women, and children are all 
employed on some article of gold, silver, wood, ivory, glass shell 
or enamel, and in the larger shops are exhibited all the different 
kinds of timekeepers for land and sea in every part of the 
world. 



176 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

Professor Agassiz is still a citizen of Neuchatel, where he 
was formerly professor, and the Museum in return professes to 
be greatly indebted to him for all sorts of monstrosities in the 
form of geological, conchological, and zoological specimens. 

Purysburg, in South Carolina, was settled by a colony from 
this canton in 1^34 ; and the leader, who gave his name to the 
settlement, left to his native city, forty years later, the sum of a 
million of dollars, which he acquired as jeweller, owner of mines, 
banker, etc. ; and a hospital, orphan house, and various other 
institutions and improvements are the results of his beneficence. 
From the villages of the Jura two hundred went to North 
Carolina in 1804, and purchased lands belonging to Kosciusko. 

There is scarcely anything remaining of old customs or old 
life, less, perhaps, than in any other canton. The religion is 
Protestant, but in all temporal things subject to the State, 
which takes care of the revenues and pays the pastors. The 
law makes public instruction obligatory in every commune, and 
the poor are taught gratis. Teachers are obhged to take the 
oath of fidelity to the constitution. In the departments of 
natural history, mechanics, and the fine arts, jSTeuchatel has 
produced many distinguished men. Guyot, Lesquereus, and 
Matile have also gone to America. Brandt, a distinguished 
engraver of medals, recently died at Berlin ; and Forster, of 
Locle, obtained the medal of honour at the Paris Exposition, in 
1855. 

The Swiss often become famous as individuals without bring- 
ing any honour to their country ; because, having either a. 
Grerman or French name, they are supposed by other nations to 
originate in one of these countries ; and only those who are ac- 
quainted with them personally, or happen to read their tomb- 
stones, ever learn that they are natives of Switzerland. "Wo 



NEUCHATEL. 1 77 

have more than once heard English people inform Germans of 
the works of certain English authors, quite in ignorance that 
they were American ; and the Tauchnitz edition, published at 
Leipsic, makes no distinction between those of one country and 
the other, calling all English who speak this notable language. 

We cannot help thinking always in Switzerland, it is a pity 
they have not one national language, though in time, perhaps, 
German may become so. It is infinitely amusing to be obliged 
to ask, on all occasions, before addressing a Swiss, what lan- 
guage he speaks ; for though we know that upon the eastern bor- 
ders their language is French, and on the northern German, there 
are many indefinite limits, where it is far from certain whether 
they speak one or the other. If in a hotel, we begin with ask- 
mg for the pfeffer, and, not obtaining it, we say poivre, to find 
at last that an English waiter has been procured for the benefit 
of travellers, and understands nothing but pepper. The higher 
classes generally speak French and German equally well ; and 
coachmen and postilions know as much of one as the other, and 
sometimes English and Italian in addition. But it is often the 
case that in the same town one family or individual prefers to 
speak French and another German ; so that one is never sure 
whether he should say Monsieur or Mein Herr, Frau or 
Madame. 

The constitution makes German, French, and Italian national ; 
and all laws and public documents must be printed in these 
languages ; and it is also required that the German be taught 
in all the public schools. Besides these there are nearly fifty 
thousand people who speak Romanish, or Romane, which has 
always been retained by those who were longest the subjects of, 
or mingled with, the Romans. It has eight dialects, and is 
spoken principally in Graubiinden, some parts of the Oberland, 

8* 



178 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

and districts of other cantons. Xot many years ago, the Bible 
was translated into this language, and other books and journals 
have been printed in the same. 

German is the base of forty dialects, and is the language of a 
majority of the people. It has some peculiarities entirely dis- 
tinct from any language spoken in Germany ; but Schlegel says, 
the poem of Niebdungen, and similar ones of the Middle Ages, 
when placed before a Swiss peasant, are immediately compre- 
hended. Though the German grammar says the auxiliary verb 
thun corresponds exactly with the English to do, the Germans 
very seldom use it ; but in Switzerland they make it answer all 
purposes in the same way ; and other analogies, both in words 
and phrases, to the English, are many and striking. In some 
districts they clip all the words, as I will nit for Ich will nicht, 
the first sounding very much like I will not, and say Maddi for 
Madchen. 

"We heard a German one day address a woman in the market 
about her cheese, and not at all understanding him, she said, " I 
do not speak French !" But we found no difficulty anywhere in 
understanding those who had been educated in school. 

French is spoken in Geneva, N'euchatel, Yaud, and by two- 
thirds of the Yallasians. Yet among the peasantry there are at 
least twenty patois, in which are Latin, Italian, Spanish, and 
Greek words. 

Among the representatives to the Federal Council, fifteen 
deputies speak German, and seven French. But if you mention 
these varieties as a reason why they cannot harmonize as one 
nation, or do not seem fitted to belong together, they ask in 
answer, '' Is not France formed of Celts, Franks, Burgundians, 
Flemings, Germans, Bretons, Spaniards, and Languedocs ? Has 
not England her Bretons, Anglo-Saxons, Scotch and Irish? 



NEUCIIATEL. 179 

Prussia Brandenburgians, Saxons, Poles, and French ? Is not 
Austria made up of Boliemians, Hungarians, Germans, and 
Italians ? and Germany herself of Suabians, Saxons, Austrians, 
Prussians, Poles, Swedes, and Westphalians ?" Which is true, 
jet one does not seem to notice it so particulary as in Switzer- 
land. But that there is some common cement, must be true, else 
they could not have been so long either partially or wholly united. 
This bond is now becoming more firm every day, and the feeling 
of brotherhood stronger. A national pride is awakening that 
leads them to forget cantonal and sectional interests ; and though 
their enemies say there are traitors in Geneva, and restless spirits 
in Neuchatel, that would at any time betray their country to 
France and much prefer to become subjects to the emperor, we 
doubt whether there are any great number ; and there must be 
very few who would incur the hatred and odium of treason for 
any reward which France could offer. 




CHAPTER XII. 



SOLEURE. 



PATRICIANS — MATERIAL INTEREST — JOURNALISM — OLD LA^^S — HOUSES — 
FIRST AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES — COSTUMES. 



There are only three or four cantons where families may be 
found who still live upon rents, and consider it degrading to 
practise a profession or trade, or know anything of the details 
of business, Soleure is one of these, and " we the patricians " 
have always played a conspicuous part in the history of the can- 
ton in the old tunes and in the new. 

Among those who are called the lower orders there exists a 
peculiar hatred towards this class, who are said to have beea 
always the enemies of progress, and to have united in everything 
that could oppress the mechanics and peasantry. The man 
behind the plough was considered of no more consequence than 
the horse before it. The tithes and taxes of every sort robbed 
him of the fruits of his labour, and there was no motive for 
attempting to improve his condition. 

The patrician class were always believed to be in correspond- 
ence with and corrupted by the French nobility, and also by the 
emissaries of the monarchs who wish to obtain Swiss soldiers, 

180 



SOLEURE. 181 

Swiss money, Swiss neutrality, or in any way Swiss influence and 
aid. Tlie governments, when in the hands of these oUgarchists, 
were accused of making a regular trade with foreign powers, 
selling men to war, and receiving money with which to revel in 
luxury. 

Foreign ambassadors and agents were always residing among 
them, using every art to weaken their principles and render 
abortive their power, whilst professing for them the greatest 
admiration and paying them the greatest homage. No canton 
suffered more from these influences perhaps than Soleure.* No 
other sent so many of her youth into foreign service, where 
many of them became estranged from the fatherland, and no 
longer content with the simple life and manners in which they 
had been educated. 

We see it more and more as a cause of lamentation, that so 
much of the best talent of the country should have gone to ren- 
der the annals of other nations illustrious. If the energy of 
those who had been distinguished as officers alone, had been 
devoted to any department of usefulness at home, what an age 
of progress they might have made, which would have given them 
a so much higher rank in the scale of nations. As it is, all the 
bravery they have manifested, and the glory they have won, has 
only covered their own land with shame. 

We have met people so democratic in Europe, that they con- 
demned the Americans as severely for building ships and rail- 
roads for the autocrat of Russia, as the Swiss for fighting the 
battles of France and Italy I Whatever analogy there may be in 
the two cases, as far as the honour of republicanism is concerned, 
we cannot help thinking it will be a happy day, not only for 

* The history of the " foreign service " will be found in the compendium of Swis3 
nistory given in the Appendix, and it will there be seen that it no longer exists. 



182 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

Switzerland, but for Europe, when science, art, and the active 
employments of material life shall be considered worthy the ener- 
gies of men, rather than the corrupting idleness to which a 
soldier is condemned whilst waiting the debasing and brutalizing . 
scenes of a field of battle. "What can be the observation, reflec- 
tion, or religion of a man and philosopher who utters it as a 
taunt against England and America, that every man and woman 
is employed in some department of industry, mechanics, agricul- 
ture, or in a sphere of mental labour that renders impossible the 
dreary stupidity and corroding inactivity to which half the people 
in this old world are doomed, whether willingly or not ? Yet 
we have heard an American utter it. 

Kussia is fast waking up to the truth ; and whatever the Empe- 
ror may be, or whatever his motives, there are no people on the 
Continent so shrewd, so well informed, so liberal and disposed to 
adopt modern ideas, as the educated classes of Russia. They 
were never trammeled by feudalism, they care very little for 
etiquette, and when they are in the world conform to it, from 
affability or for the sake of improvement, as a German baron 
or a Swiss patrician would not do to save his land or his 
life. 

In Switzerland the press is free, but there is no popular jour- 
nalism, no attractive interesting modern Uterature, no mental 
activity on popular questions, no lectures, as these things exist in 
England and America. It was in Berne that one of their own 
citizens told me they were in a state bordering on lethargy. In 
Neuchatel, Geneva and Zurich, there is more mental activity, 
and regular contributors to their journals. The " dailies " have 
a page of items clipped here and there from all foreign and home 
journals, and the remaining portion of the sheet is devoted to 
advertisements. They criticise more freely what is done and 



SOLEUKE. 183 

said, or not done and said, by the Government, and have the 
hberty to say whatever they please, that is not treason or libel, 
and yet they say nothing. An editor is a man of no more 
influence in the community than a shoemaker, and what he does 
requires no more talent. 

In book-pubhshing it is the same ; nearly all publishers are 
Germans, and they say reading is not so universal in Switzer- 
land as in Germany. The popular writers are by no means so 
many, and literature has none of the importance and appreciation 
it deserves. 

We saw in a village paper in canton Zurich a lamentable 
picture of the morals of the lower classes, a picture too gross 
for the pages of a book, reveahng the secrets of the courts of 
justice, instances of child-murder and other revolting crimes, in 
numbers which seemed incredible within the precincts of so small 
a state. They ascribe the fault to neglect of parents and heads 
of families ; but it did not seem to occur to them that parents 
and heads of families cannot impress upon others a moral senti- 
ment they do not feel and have never been educated themselves 
to regard. 

Those lower classes must have a different education, higher 
subjects of interest and thought, and conversation — exactly 
what a popular hterature and press could furnish. 

Jeremias Gotthdf commenced a good work a few years since 
in a series of popular tales, illustrative of daily hfe and man- 
ners, charming in style and spirit, but his life ended when his 
work began, and his mantle does not seem to have fallen upon 
any other. 

In Soleure, they say, "my gracious lords" of the Govern- 
ment and Council were always opposed to anything that could 
create intelligence and awaken thought ; and the same was true 



184 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

in general of the priesthood. As long as the people were igno- 
rant and stupid, they were obedient. 

At the beginning of the seventeenth century something was 
done for education, but the revolt of the peasants in 163.3 was 
an indication to the men in power that it was their duty to 
revenge this attempt of the people to cast off the yoke of their 
oppressors ; and instead of granting them the hope and relief 
that would make them content and secure them for friends, they 
drew tighter their bonds, increased their taxes, and not only dis- 
couraged, but forbade all efforts to improve them. It is very 
curious and sometimes amusing to notice the bitterness with 
which those who were in ofi&ce at that period are spoken of by 
the people. So early as 1612 there is allusion to a school- 
master, and in the sixteenth century some attempt at collecting 
the children for the purpose of learning to read and write. But 
some one wrote of the schools at that time : '' A hundred child- 
ren are together in one small room and taught A B C so dili- 
gently, that they learn it in five or six years I" " My gracious 
lords " did not choose that any one should be forced to go to 
school ; it was easy to see what it would come to, if the people 
learned reading and writing, and had schoolmasters. If they 
choose to employ them, '' my g^cious lords " will not contribute 
thereto. 

At the same time it was ordained, that houses with walls and 
tiles were to be built only ''for my gracious lord the bailiff and 
the highly worthy pastor." Those for the peasantry were of 
boards, and covered with straw, dark and dismal as the times in 
which they lived. There are a few of them still, with the great 
overhanging roof, shutting out all light, a few beams of which 
might otherwise enter through the little round panes, and the 
door a few feet high. The furniture is such as we have de- 



SOLEURE. 185 

scribed in similar houses elsewhere. The Black-Forest clock ticks 
in the corner; over a round table hangs a mirror, surmounted by 
a paper dove, emblem of the Holy Spirit, object of adoration for 
the family, and favourite resting-place for the flies. A crucifix 
and Einsiedeln Mother of God hang against the wall, painted and 
snioke-bedimmed, for the chimney is only an opening in the straw^ 
and willow-braided roof, covered with mortar, and the sooty 
particles are sure to perambulate the apartment before determin- 
ing to ascend to the upper regions; and here and there, in niches 
and receptacles, are pictures and souvenirs from nuns and capu- 
chins, all black and uncomfortable as it is possible to conceive. 

But no new ones are built after this fashion. In every vil- 
lage are pretty cottages, with all modern improvements, tasteful 
gardens, and all the comforts they know anything about. We 
hope it will not be long before they will add a few to their cata- 
logue in all Switzerland, which as yet they have never heard of, 
and life have a higher object than any with which they have 
ever tiiought of investing it. 

We should not fail to record, that in Soleure, as in Friburg, 
it was to a Catholic priest that the people were first indebted 
for anything deserving the name of school. Scarcely a peasant 
could read or write when Ignatius Glutz determined to put an 
end to this ignorance, and another, Gabriel Leupi, followed up 
his efforts. In 1811, the Government created a normal school, 
and ordained that every commune should support a teacher; but 
the troubles of 1814 disturbed their operations, and not till 1830 
was a regular system of pubhc instruction estabhshed. The 
trouble is, everywhere in Switzerland, that the compensation is 
so low few can make teaching their profession, and those who 
do are not properly educated for their calling. 

It is only within a short time that all privileges have been 



186 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

abolished, and only since the last French revolution, and the 
formation of a federal government on the true principles of 
equality, that gave all an equal interest in the affairs of the 
whole, that a noble public spirit has begun to awake, and a 
national feeling to pervade all classes. So long as they were 
absorbed in then* httle cantonal affairs, they were narrow- 
minded. They say of themselves : "So long as the foreign ser- 
vice continued, especially with France, and French aristocracy 
exerted so much influence in their government and society, a 
Soleure gentleman was neither French, German, nor Swiss, but 
a German-French-Swiss monster." But smce the war-service 
and the guilds are at an end, agriculture and manufactures have 
received a new impulse. 

So early as 153t they built a canal, to connect the waters of 
the Dunnen, several miles long and ten feet wide, by which 
eighty-five thousand square rods of waste land were rendered 
fruitful. It was the first attempt of the kind in Switzerland, 
and the peasants laughed it to scorn ; but when it had suc- 
ceeded, it was the best incitement to new efforts in this and other 
branches of agriculture. 

The Swiss annals allude to the bishops and priests of the 
earhest period of the Christian Church, as having families and 
well-ordered households, as working in the field, holding the 
plough, and harnessing the ox thereto ; of their teaching the 
people to plant and sow, to burn lime, and build with stones, to 
spin and make cloth, to take the place of the skins of beasts, 
which they wore. " Work and prayer," was the motto of the 
Benedictine monks. It was only in later years that they became 
degenerate, when bad men entered the Church for the sake of 
the honour and wealth it could bestow, and not for the good 
they could do. When they ceased to be the true friends of the 



SOLEURE. 187 

people, and exercise over tliem a paternal care, they ceased to 
improve ; and it was this degeneracy of the Church which led 
to the formation of all manner of benevolent associations and 
efforts by those who had no connection with it. Among these 
none are more ef&cient in promoting the true interests of Christ- 
ianity and civilization than "economic" and '' agricultutal 
societie." 

The first of these founded in Switzerland, was by Zsckiffeli, 
in Berne, in It 59, and was composed of members of the govern- 
ment, ecclesiastics, and agriculturists, for the purpose of im- 
proving husbandry. The special object of its founder was to 
popularize useful ideas, and to accomplish this he appealed to 
the patriotism of all classes, and brought the experience of the 
lowest, as well as the theories of the highest, to his aid. He 
said, there could be no permanent improvement without light 
and knowledge, and therefore scattered publications upon all 
matters concerning agriculture. It was through the influence 
of these, that extensive irrigation w^as introduced, the system of 
leaving fallow ground done away, and clover substituted, the 
cultivation of the potato made general, and science applied to 
the culture of the vine. In a little time industry, commerce, 
political economy and legislation concerning social interests, fixed 
the attention of the society, and opened a wider theatre of 
honourable activity. This was the beghming of all similar 
efforts on the Continent, and half a century before serfdom was 
fairly abolished in Germany, and sixty years before a similar 
society was formed at Leipsic. 

In no country are the profits of agriculture so great as in 
Switzerland, where there are few great proprietors, and most 
farmers own the soil they till. Nearly four hundred thousand 
families are engaged in the different departments of husbandry, 



188 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

and only one hundred thousand in the different trades and pro- 
fessions. 

Union dairies, and other associations described elsewhere, are 
now general in Soleure ; nurseries for plants established in many 
places, and orchards everywhere like forests. Before this new 
awaking there were only fifteen kinds of fruits and thirty kinds 
of flowers known in the canton, where now are flourishing those 
of every climate and soil. 

In the good old times, those halcyon days when a few oligar- 
chists ruled and the people obeyed, a peasant could not hunt in 
the forest on penalty of dungeons and death, but the bailiff was 
allowed two hunters and twelve dogs, " whenever it pleased his 
honour to enjoy this pastime.'' Now each person pays a small 
sum for the privilege, and it is free to all who care to avail them- 
selves of it at this price. 

Fishing is granted in some places by the State, and in some 
by the communes, and also the privilege of ensnaring frogs and 
crabs to their destruction, which is done by kindling fires of 
brushwood on dark nights, and setting nets to entangle them, as 
the foolish creatures hop out to see what is going on in the 
world, and soon learn to their sorrow that they are no longer to 
know anything, even in their own little domain. 

They make a curious little cheese in Soleure, which they call 
" Geisskase/' which would indicate that it was made of goats 
milk, which is not at all the case, but from their diminutiveness 
they may think it best to give them a humble name. They are 
only four or five inches in circumference, and cost three or four 
sous. The process of making them is to place the new milk 
with the rennet over the fire till it is lukewarm, and removing it, 
they allow it to stand till the curds are formed, when it is again 
warmed and put in moulds, where it is cut fine and stirred till it 



SOLEUEE. 189 

is pulp. It is then poured off, salted, and dried a day or two, 
and placed in the cellar, where it must remain ten or fifteen 
days, when it is washed in warm water, moulded, and wrapped 
in leaves for keeping, but, though palatable, they will not serve 
for heirlooms. 

A great portion of the people are shepherds and agriculturists, 
but in the larger towns and villages there are many factories, 
and their mechanics are renowned. 

Olten is the concentrating point for all the railroads from 
north, south, east, and west ; and on a summer's day, when all 
the world is in motion, it seems as if all the world passed through 
here indeed. Such a running and rushing — such a trundling of 
baggage — such a confusion of tongues — such a jostling and 
screaming, as we never elsewhere saw or heard. It seems for a 
little while impossible that such a crowd can ever get ticketed 
and numlered for the right place ; and the two or three hun- 
di'cd names in great letters hung through the length of the 
long depot must be meant to bewilder rather than to guide. 
But many times a day the same number come, make the same 
hurry and rush, and depart, each time leaving the little village 
as quiet as if only the wheel and the hammer had ever been 
heard in its midst. 

It is especially famous for its coopers, and those who wish to 
purchase wine in Elsaz often come to Olten for the barrels in 
which it is to be exported. So expeditiously can a merchant be 
fitted out J that he arrives in the evening not knowing where a 
single article is to be found, and departs at break of day with 
tubs, hogsheads, chains, and all the apparatus for shipping tuns 
of wine. 

A thousand hundredweight of iron wire is drawn and rolled, 
and sent forth yearly. There are ribbon looms in the sur- 



190 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

rounding country, and stockings woven by the ten thousand 
dozen. 

The cantonal colours are red and white, the robe of the Land- 
wdbel being white in front from the shoulder down. 

The statute-books of the olden time are not less curious in this 
than in the other cantons. Witches were burnt, and not they 
alone ; and those who were guilty of slander had the tongue 
slit. In 1581, some guild-brothers had quarrelled, and called 
each other names ; in solemn council the Government decided 
that they should meet and drink wine together, each party fur- 
nishing a certain quantity, and my gracious lords would con- 
descend to come and drink with them I 

In 1661, a watchman who was found drunk and asleep was 
condemned to stand by the fish-bench, on the market-place, 
holding a wooden halberd. In 1639, two women, who quarrelled 
and came to blows, were confined together in a small room, and 
obliged to eat out of the same dish with the same spoon. In 
It 98, a man who threatened to cut down the tree of liberty was 
obliged to stand beside it with a wooden hatchet. 

The people are Catholics, but the festivals are not so many 
as in the other Catholic cantons, baptisms and funerals being 
the only occasions when the country people make a great dis- 
play. The national dress, too, is fast disappearing. Formerly 
the married women wore a black petticoat, and the maidens red, 
a silver cross upon the bodice, white full sleeves, the hau' in long 
braids hanging behind, and on the head a broad-brimmed hat. 

In another district the skirt was fastened to the waist with 
a great roll like a sausage, filled with straw — a convenient rest- 
ing-place for the hands in the dance. On festal days they wear 
a silver wreath with red ribbons braided in the hair ; but the 
skirt is now usually black, the bodice cut low, Tsdth a full white 



SOLETJRE. 191 

chemisette plaited within, and the silver chains passing under 
the arm. 

The cities of Soleure and Treves are said to have been the 
first founded by the Eomans on this side the Alps, and they 
have still a Heidcnweg or road of the Pagans, as well as a 
statue of Venus in Carrara marble, which prove, with many 
other relics, that this was occupied by a Roman colony. Their 
cathedral is a modern edifice, and not so attractive as those 
which have stood a thousand years, but is not less beautiful than 
some which claim this additional honour ; but the clock-tower 
on the market-place is ascribed to a period five hundred years 
before Christ. 

One of the most distinguished of modern sculptors, Egger- 
schwyl, was a native of Soleure, and obtained the prize of honour 
at the Paris Exhibition in 1802, besides being the recipient of 
many flattering distinctions from Napoleon. They have also 
produced many historians and painters. Their heroes rest in 
foreign graves, but there are monuments to record their valour, 
and there came one to die among them who was not of them. 
In this quiet and secluded place, Kosciusko bid farewell to 
earth, and ceased to dream of his country's glory. We see the 
house where he lived, and the coffin in which for a little while 
reposed his remams ; but his dust now mingles with that of his 
fathers on Cracow's plains, and the foot of the despot marches 
unheeded over the sod already, green above their heads. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

ZURICH. 

MODERN CITY — OLD LAWS— SILK MANUFACTURE — HAPPY HOMES — FROGS 
AND SNAILS — GREAT SHOOTING FESTIVAL. 

So long ago as the thirteenth century, when all the rest of 
the world was in barbarism, Zurich w^as known as the City of 
Savans, and one who lives among them, but is not of them, say^s 
it deserves still this appellation. By the Romans it was called 
Turicum ; and it embraced Christianity in the seventh century. 
Yet it is the most modern-looking city we have seen in Europe. 
It has old narrow streets, and quaint old houses, where knights 
revelled and troubadours sang ; * but they are compressed 
within a little space, and are not recognized in the general 



* At the end of the thirteenth century the house of L. Maness was the rendezvous of 
the Troubadours, and the family had very long in their possession a collection of the 
sentimental poesies of these knight and nlght-errants, valuable for their intrinsic 
worth and rich imagery. It is now in the Bibliotheque of Paris. The poems were not 
admitted till after rigid examination on the part of the noblesse of both sexes in this 
and other countries. One of the most famous of the Troubadours was Ilartmawti von 
der Aae, of the family of Chevaliers de Yesperspi'el. Another was J. Iladlaub, a 
burger of Zurich, who loved a noble lady, who would not listen to his suit. The verses 
in which he sang his sorrow are still extant, and very delicate in sentiment and beauti- 
ful in construction. The old house is still standing where they met. 



ZURICH. 193 

physiognomy as we look down upon it from some height, or 
examine it closely face to face. 

We might easily imagine ourselves in the ''wooden city"* 
of 'New England. It has a similar position on both sides of a 
river or bay ; and the houses, though not of wood, are white, 
with green blinds, and after the same model, standing apart, sur- 
rounded by gardens and greenswards. But one is infinitely 
amused in passing them to find they are called by name, or to 
be dii'ected to the house of some saint or philosopher, and read 
over the door, "Monk's Cap," or " Sheep's Head." To think 
of baptizing anything in modern days by the name of Sodom ! 
However appropriate it may have been before the days of science, 
there can be no good reason now for living in a ''Kat's Nest," 
or a " Louse Brush ;" yet, if we were to judge by appearances, 
some of the most useful of modern improvements are unknown in 
the city, which has flourished two thousand years. But, though 
the houses have lost all right to the cognomens, they are pro- 
bably allowed to remain as relics of that time-honoured past for 
which the respect is so universal that even the exposition of its 
foibles only increases our veneration. So when we read the 
above-mentioned names, or '' Garter," " Fool," and " Longface," 
over the doors, we have no idea of concluding these signs to be 
true indications of what is within ! 

Zurich is not only the city of savans,\ but " my lady bounti- 

* Providence, R. I. 

t To enumerate Zurich's wise men would be as useless as impossible. Their name is 
legion, both in the past and present, Conrad Gessner was among the fii-st as physi- 
cian, botanist, geologist, and in all learning the Pliny of modern times. Solomon Gess- 
ner is denominated the modern Theocritus, and no German poet of the last century has 
so many readers. The translation of his works was the introduction of German literature 
into France. His essays were equally renowned, and he was also painter and engraver. 
Felix Faier wrote travels in Palestine, which Robinson, the great American Eastern 
traveller, alludes to as remarkable for correctness. Sc7ieuc7tzer wrote travels among 

9 



194 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

ful " for all Switzerland. If there is an avalanche or land-slide 
in any canton or any village, a flood, or famine, or fire, the appeal 
is always made to Zurich, " Come over and help ns," and never in 
vain. It is almost a proverb, and heard everywhere, *' Had it 
not been for Zurich, we should have starved." In 1834 they 
taxed themselves nearly five thousand dollars for the Greeks. 
In the days of persecution she was the " city of refuge " for 
every country ; and it is owing to the Huguenots, to whom they 
opened their dwellings, and to the Locarners, who fled to them 
from Italy, that they were so early a manufacturing people, and 
verified the words of the Preacher, " Cast your bread upon the 
waters, and it shall return to you after many days." They re- 
ceived at one time a whole troop from the French galleys, who 
had been condemned for poMtical offences, and distributed them 
about in families, till they could support themselves. English 
theologians and Catholic priests, all, of every faith and nation, 
have experienced their hospitality. In all the cities it was the 
custom to have corn-houses, or granaries, where corn was depo- 
sited during years of plenty, and sold at a low price in years of 

the Alps, and was called to the court of Peter the Great by recommendation of Leibnitz. 
Sulzer, author of " Theory of the Fine Arts," was called to the chair of philosophy at 
Berlin by Frederick the Great. Bodmer was denominated the Plato of the modern 
Athens. 

If was when meditating, "By the margin of Zurich's fair waters," that Zimmerman was 
inspired to write the delights of solitude, and Goethe penned the productions which 
acquired him most renown in the midst of the same scenes. The " good works " of the 
great Lavater live still in the memory of every inhabitant of Zurich, for it was not 
less by his deeds of love than by his words of wisdom that he deserved to be known. It 
was also the noble heai-t of Pestalozzi which inspired the marvellous labours he accom- 
plished. The fame of these two is the most enviable which can be acquired by man, for 
it is owing to the good they did. 

There are fifty more whose names are not less familiar in the circles of science and 
literature, and those who are now the lights of her University will be recorded with equal 
honour ; and here as in all other things we have to remember, that Zurich is only one 
small canton of a small republic. 



ZURICH. 195 

scarcity. The revelations of science, improvements in agricul- 
ture, and introduction of many new kinds of food, have dimi- 
nished the dangers of famine, so that the granaries are no longer 
so important. But in 1636, there occurred a famine, from the 
failure of the crops, and more than 20,000 dollars' worth of grain 
was given to the people in the country, besides what was sold at 
a price within their means. 

The universities, schools, and benevolent institutions of Zurich, 
correspond with the age, though now she does not give citizen- 
ship to all who come, but sells it to all who can pay the price, 
which, to be sm-e, is not a large sum. 

Her savings-bank is the oldest in Switzerland, and the second 
in Europe. So early as 1558, we read of soup-houses, where 
her own poor, and those from many other lands, were fed gratis, 
and with far better food than the cloisters had been in the habit 
of furnishing. Immediately after the Reformation, the State 
undertook the care of the poor and sick, and Church-property was 
confiscated to create a fund. 

In the last half century more than fifty thousand patients 
have been received into her hospital, nearly five thousand being 
from other cantons, and eight thousand from other lands. 

One must be continually reminded, in reading of Switzerland, 
of its size, in order to appreciate its importance. When we 
think that the twenty-two cantons together are not larger than 
a third of the State of Xew York, we can conceive what one 
canton must be. Yet the population is one-seventh of the whole 
United States of America. There are ninety-two cities of a 
thousand inhabitants, sixty-three communes or hamlets, and sefen 
thousand four hundred villages. There are more inhabitants, in 
proportion to ihe land, than in any other country, which must 
not be forgotten when we read of their industry or their poverty. 



196 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

Zurich is seventeen square leagues in extent, and has between 
two and three hundred thousand inhabitants. They are an agri- 
cultural and manufacturing people, and in both those depart- 
ments aim at the highest possible perfection. Their silks rival 
those of Lyons, and their fields those of England in beauty. 

It is not less interesting in Zmlch than in Lucerne, to trace 
step by step the social development and progress of the people. 

In 1358, there were only two hundred and sixty-three servants 
in all the famihes of the city, because it was the custom for the 
wives and daughters to perform the domestic labour ; and there 
are several instances recorded of women being punished for 
scolding. In 1329, a burgomaster was fined two thousand, seven 
hundred and fifty dollars for insulting a woman. 

In 1280, there was a great fire, and the clergy said it was a 
judgment upon the city for its extravagance, especially for the 
folly of the women in dress and fnery ; and they began to make 
laws to restrain this propensity ! The unmarried were allowed 
to dress more than the married. Neither men nor women were 
permitted to wear pointed shoes. Sometimes gold and precious 
stones were to be seen on the head, and even on the dress. This 
consisted of a long underdress without sleeves, sometimes only a 
mantle thrown over, and sometimes a short dress reaching to 
the knee, having sleeves, and the hair fell in curls on the neck. 
Men wore something like a monk's gown, making it always 
shorter and shorter, and red or blue stockings, or one side 
blue and the other red. These were the Zurich stockings, so 
famous at the battle of Morgarten. 

The inventory of articles in an inn for travellers in 1380, enu- 
merates four table-cloths for a long table, and four for a round 
one, sixteen pillows, eight baskets, one for bread and one for 
keys, a chest for trumpery^ forty dishes and plates, one cauldron, 



ZURICH. 197 

one great wash-tub, one reel, one foot-stool to stand before a 
bed, and six flat irons, etc. 

When burghers resorted to an inn, to talk and drink in the 
evening, the bells of the city rang at the proper houi* for them 
to return home, and no one was allowed to walk in the streets 
afterwards without a light. 

It w^as forbidden to invite more than twenty persons to a 
wedding, and the god-parents must not make presents worth 
more thdu seventy-five cents. Only two singers and two fiddlers 
could be present. A bride at her first marriage could receive a 
morning gift ; -widows, of course, received none. 

In the sixteenth century, the people were commanded to make 
a pilgrimage to Einsiedeln, the first Sunday after Pfingsten, con- 
sisting of twenty-four priests, and one grown person from each 
house, and at the next State-Council a report was made of dis- 
obedience and misdemeanors. Priests were reproved for talking 
and laughing so loud during confession that the voices of those 
confessing could not be heard ! 

In 1480, a feast was given at the choice of a new burgomaster, 
at which two thousand persons were present. The inventory of 
articles in a rich burgher's house enumerates eighty linen sheets^ 
sixty table-cloths, and seventy-nine pieces of silver. 

In this century men and women wore grey mantles, but no 
woman was allowed to wear a girdle that cost more than five 
dollars, and not then unless her husband was worth four hundred 
dollars ! 

In the course of the fifteenth century three hundred and 
eighty-eight persons were condemned to death, twenty-one being 
women ; one hundred and eighty-two were led with blinded eyes 
to the gallows and hung ; one hundred and ten died by the 
sword ; twenty-one were broken on the wheel ; and thirty-seven 



198 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

drowned. Mention is often made of cutting off ears and noses ; 
and two were buried alive. This is after the Gospel had been 
preached five hundred years in their midst, and its words are said 
to be "sharper than any two-edged sword." 

Those punishments were the remnants of heathenism, and some 
of them, or laws as disgraceful, exist still in every Christian land. 
How slow is the progress of truth and righteousness, notwith- 
standing their power. 

Zwinglius said of Zurich he hoped his field of labour would 
never be in such a wicked place ; yet he afterwards came and ac- 
complished much good. He was the reformer in whom the peo- 
ple had most confidence, as he not only preached against the op- 
pression of the Church, but of the Government. In the war of 
the peasants, Luther was with the princes, merely because his 
life had not made him acquainted with the wrongs and oppres- 
sions of the poor. But Zwinglius had never lived in a monastery, 
and knew nothing of dreams and theories. He was opposed to 
all wrong, and advocated freedom in its broadest sense. Yet he 
was superstitious, and believed the appearance of a comet fore- 
boded evil, and saw no sin in trying and burning witches. 

In this century the ladies are said to have become more 
domestic ; those of the highest rank worked in the kitchen, spun, 
and sewed, and wove their household linen. It was the custom 
to make great preparation for the new-born child ; all the silver 
of the house was present. The cradle furniture was of the finest 
embroidery, and the oldest daughter, though not more than ten 
years of age, stood by as its femvie de chamhre. Yery costly 
presents were made, and sixteen god-parents were present at its 
baptism. 

In 1688, Bishop Burnet travelled in Switzerland, and wi'ote 
of Zurich : " Here we find the simplicity of the old times, and 



ZURICH. 199 

ladies devoted to their households instead of intrigues and dress." 
Having studied diligently, we have not been able to learn when 
the old times ended and the new times commenced. 

In 1550, a young lady received for her marriage dower a 
double bed with curtains, and two foot-stools to climb up to it ; 
six table-cloths, six hand-towels, and twelve dish-towels, twenty- 
four chemises, and twelve caps, thirty-four doyleys, five orna- 
mented dresses, fourteen other articles of dress, bracelets of 
thirteen rows of agate, garnet, and cornelian ; silver girdles for 
keys, and a psalm-book with silver clasps. This trousseau cost 
about three hundred dollars and she received four hundred dol- 
lars in money. 

In 1663, ladies are forbidden to wear girdles worth more than 
three guineas English ; and gentlemen must not sport wigs 
weighing several pounds, costing perhaps $75 or a $100. In 
the beginning of this century, Sunday began to be observed in 
the modern way. No one was allowed to labour except shoe- 
makers and tailors, who were permitted to finish a piece of work 
already commenced, if they could get it done before the sermon. 

It was at this period that powder began to be worn upon the 
hair, and that gentlemen first tried the influence of presents in 
wooing. "Women of bad reputation were obliged to wear red 
caps in the street and in church. 

In 1614, the law prescribed the limits of a wedding dinner. 

FIRST COURSE. 

A pastry. Smoked sausage. 

Two dishes of warm soup. Smoked beef. 

Two dishes of cold soup. Two dishes of rice. 

One boiled fowl. Two dishes of beets and other 

One piece of smoked meat. vegetables. 

Half a calf s head and pluck. 



200 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

SECOND COURSE. 

Two joints of roast veal. Half of a roast hare. 

One pair of fowls. Two dishes of pears. 

One pair of doves. Two dishes of plums. 
Roast sausage. 

EVENING. 

One dish of wafers and wine. 

If any one wished to give a larger entertainment than this, he 
must ask permission of government. 

During the last half of this century, tea and chocolate became 
common, and people smoked mastic and little tapers of juniper- 
wood and berries. 

During the seventeenth century, three hundred and thu'ty-six 
persons were condemned to death ; ninety-eight of whom were 
women, and no amelioration occurred in the modes of punish- 
ment. 

In the beginning of the eighteenth century, coffee became as 
common as wine, and snuff was used, but was forbidden in church 
" as a hindrance to heart culture !" 

People began, at this time, to invite company on certain days, 
and the ladies used to sit on benches before the doors to gossip. 
The burghers met according to their guilds in front of the 
churches, each guild having its exact line, so that no one tres- 
passed upon the stone that belonged to another. 

Clergymen commenced kneeling on entering the pulpit, and 
praying softly to themselves. Families lived together in one 
great room, where the father studied, the wife spun, and the 
maids shelled peas. 

In lt39, a Frenchman wrote of the Zurich people : "The 
men talk as loud at table as when they are scolding their wives, 



ZURICH. 201 

and take such long steps that one would think a postilion were 
striding through the room. The women are the best creatures in 
the world, but cannot hold a conversation." 

In the beginning of this century parasols began to be used. 

It is the custom in Zurich, when a child is born, for a young 
girl to take an enormous bouquet, ornamented with long rib- 
bons, and go from house to house to announce to the relatives 
and friends the happy event. It originated in the eighteenth 
century. Baptism took place immediately after birth. If there 
were several to be baptized, the boys received the rite first, lest 
they should have no beard when men. Those who carried the 
children ran through the street, in order to make them active.* 

Country people began to come to the city to be married, and 
often in procession, with viohns and trumpets. The bride and 
bridegroom kneeled during the ceremony. If the bride could 
not in honour wear the wreath, she could not receive the bless- 
ing on the wedding-day, but waited till Saturday evening. 
Golden weddings were celebrated in church by remarriage, and 
with gifts and great rejoicings at home. 

At funerals, the house was entirely draped in black, within 
and without. The friends were informed by a special messenger, 
and assembled at two o'clock in the afternoon ; the men receiv- 
ing expressions of condolence at the door, and the women form- 
ing a circle in one large room. The service and procession were 
in the ordinary manner. 

In 1*153, ladies first began to attend public concerts ; but in 
the middle ages the Zurichers were famous for their music. 
Phrenologists say, their heads exhibit a remarkable develop- 
ment, indicating their taste and talent for this branch of the fine 
arts ; but the discovery would not indicate any special discern- 

* This custom precisely as in tlie northnm part of Germany. 
9* 



202 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

ment in a phrenologist, by which we do not intend to implicate 
their discernment in general. 

The taste and skill in the mechanic arts is not less decided, 
and the hum of industry is heard literally in all her borders. 
The manufactures are not crowded into one corner of a great 
city, but occupy the leisure hours of those who live in the coun- 
try. Especially is this the case in the weaving of silk. All 
those beautiful fabrics, which now equal those of any part of 
the world, are produced in the cottages scattered over hill and 
dale, and by those who perhaps work in the field in summer and 
weave silk in the winter, or devote only the leisure hours of 
every season to this light and tasteful labour. 

Lord Canning once said, " he beheved everything but figures;^ 
and surely it is diflicult to beheve the figures which state the 
amount of wealth this little canton produces in this desultory 
way. Five millions of dollars' worth of silk alone go to North 
America ; and at least five millions more to other countries ; 
and nearly twenty thousand individuals are employed on them. 
The looms belong to the families who use them, and they exer- 
cise their own judgment and pleasure concerning the time to 
devote to one labour or another. 

We need not apologize for introducing our readers to one of 
these cottages, that they may see the companions of the loom, 
in which is a web that may one day flourish in an English palace 
or American saloon, or whirl in the dizzy dance at Ne^^'port or 
Saratoga. It is of the beautiful kind called gros de Najples, 
which you need not imagine to have been made in Italy because 
it has an Italian name, or that it is less beautiful because it is 
woven on Swiss soil. 

First, you must see the weavers, who wear a white linen cap, 
ornamented with glass beads on both sides, and tied under the 



ZURICH. 203 

chin with a velvet ribbon. -A short blue jacket, with light blue 
bodice, on which appears the letter Y, wrought, or formed with 
coloured velvet ribbon. What the letter signifies we do not know, 
and they do not know themselves. 

The house is of two stories, built first of timbers, and then a 
wall of coarse bricks or stones, covered with plaster. On the 
first floor are a sitting-room, two small rooms, and a kitchen 
These are finished with panels, painted light green, looking 
beautifully neat. The most conspicuous object is the great stove 
of potters' work, veneered and painted, and wrought into three 
walls, so as to spread its genial influence in every apartment 
below and above. These stoves are everywhere at the north, 
and very comfortable when thoroughly heated night and day, 
but require much wood, and in the mild weather of spring or 
autumn not very economical, unless permitted to remain cold, 
which is often the case ! 

Under the windows are long wooden benches, and before 
these the table, set around with wooden chairs. The unfailing 
fhcst, with its various compartments, is near, and on it a tin 
[)Liil and copper wash-basin ; a book-shelf is suspended over, and 
on a nail at its side a towel and a brushV/On a little table in 
the corner is the folio family Bible, and upon two nails over the 
door rests the family gun, pohshed to brightness. The next 
article is a curious rehc of the olden times, and here we are able 
to state exactly what marked the times as old. When they use 
[his term, they mean the age of oatmeal pudding made so thick 
that the spoon would stand upright in the centre. These are 
the days their grandmothers still remember, and the great 
wooden spoon hangs by a string to the wall, as does also the 
bread-knife, with the initials of the heads of the household there- 
on, and the date of their marriage. It is a curious article on 



204 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

which to preserve the record of so important an event ; but 
being the one they would oftenest have to use, it is not on the 
whole so inappropriate. A slate, an almanac, a looking-glass, 
and a pair of scales, occupy their wonted posts, and in accord- 
ance with their humble offices, the cat's dish, the cricket, the 
cradle, and standing-stool. Under the stove are the unoccupied 
shoes and playthings, and in the most honourable positions pic- 
tures from the Bible, Swiss history, and the never-to-be-forgotten 
Black Forest clock. 

Kear the window is the loom I Does it seem marvellous 
how one of those beautiful and delicate tissues of green, or 
gold, or purple, can come forth from the midst of such a medley 
without spot or blemish ? We can only answer, that we wonder 
all the same, though everything is remarkably neat. The loom 
is like any other, except that it is more light and delicate in its 
construction. The reed, through which the warp is drawn, is 
fine as gossamer, and the shuttle for the filling might answer for 
a fau'y. The web goes underneath, and winds on a beam like 
any other web, of tow or of more plebeian pretensions. The 
threads break, and fingers which are not at all fairylike tie 
them together with marvellous celerity, and we watch the checks 
and stripes or figures form with never-ceasing interest and 
amazement. 

In the second story are the large double-canopied beds for 
children and servants, and in the same room and adjoining apart- 
ments are linen and clothing chests, boxes for dried fruit and old 
trumpery, barrels, full of meal, clover seed, and salt, swallows' 
nests, and dried sausage, ham, bacon and bundles of yarn in all 
their luxuriance, and, one would think, detrimental proximity I 

In the deep cellar are stored the beer, and apples, and cider, 
sauerkraut, potatoes, and other vegetables. 



ZURICH. 205 

These are the homes, and the happy homes, of free and in- 
dustrious people, who may be said to lack nothing that is abso- 
lutely necessary to comfort and happiness. There is none of the 
abject poverty which is seen in exclusively manufacturing dis- 
tricts, and none of the luxury attendant upon suddenly acquired 
and immense fortunes. 

The manufacture of cotton in Switzerland is more extensive 
than that of silk, and occupies at least fifty thousand people. 
The whole number of spindles is six hundred and sixty-six thou- 
sand, and the half of these are turned in Zurich. There are also 
six thousand employed in bleaching, dyeing, and printing cloths ; 
and of those, Zurich has also the greatest number. There are 
five hundred tanneries in Switzerland, with three thousand 
labourers, confined mostly to three cantons, of which Zurich is 
one. The manufacture of woollen is confined principally to four 
cantons, of which Zurich is one. These are the most important 
branches of industry, and yet agriculture has attained here the 
highest perfection. Of the fifty thousand people who weave 
silk or spin cotton, make paper or braid straw, a great propor- 
tion devote part of their time to some department of labour in 
field or garden. 

There are in the canton no Alps, yet they possess fifty thou- 
sand head of cattle ; besides horses, sheep, goats ; pigs also 
number by thousands. Their vines, like those in Germany, 
were first planted by Charlemagne ; and of the four hundred 
and eighty thousand acres of land belonging to the canton, one 
hundred and twenty thousand are devoted to pasturage and 
cereals, fifteen thousand to vines, and one hundred and sixty 
thousand to various culture. 

The farms are very small, but the soil is made to produce to 
the utmost of its capacity. We are very sorry to be obliged to 



206 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

offend our fastidious readers with the revolting details of agricul- 
ture, and especially to introduce them again to a Tnanure-heap, 
but as this is the agriculturist's wealth, and as in Switzerland 
they seem to have learned the art of converting it particle by par- 
ticle into gold ,we cannot pass it by. We write for those whose 
duty it is to learn and practise in the same way, and those whom we 
have usually found as refined as some who profess to be shocked 
at being told that fruits and flowers do not grow spontaneously, 
or that science aids in anything so vulgar as enriching the soil. 

This same " manure-heap" was the first thing that attracted 
our attention on passing a farmhouse, because it was made with 
so much care and so peculiarly, and because it occupied the most 
pleasant position near the house in the shade of some elms. 
We afterwards learned that the shade it must necessarily have, 
from the principle on which it is constructed ; and if it were 
near the stable, it must, of course, be near the house, as they 
are in close contiguity. It is appointed to receive all the waste 
juices of the house as well as barn. 

If there are no trees in the right place, and of the right size, 
they plant them ; not to beautify, but to shield this most im- 
portant portion of their treasures. 

A pit is made some two or three feet deep, walled tight with 
stones or boards. Beams are placed across, covered with 
branches of trees, so that when the manure is placed thereon, 
the fluids drain through and leave the solids dry above. 

The stable where the cattle stand has a floor of plates of 
stone or boards, with gravel earth in front, that they may lie 
down and get up without slipping. Between them and the wall 
is a drain from ten to fifteen inches wide, which connects with 
the reservoir, without. There are also two or three ditches of 
hewn stone, or boards, into which the manure is first thrown 



ZUKICH. 207 

from the stables in order to be moistened with water, and then 
placed upon the heap; or if thrown du'ectly upon it, it is often wet- 
ted, in order to cause fermentation and decay, and to enrich the 
fluid beneath, which is made accessible through an opening at 
one corner, and dipped out with a long-handled pail. One sees 
everywhere women and children watering gardens and fields of 
vegetables with this liquid. 

The stables are carpeted with clean straw before each milk- 
ing, and sometimes four or five times daily ; and with this, and 
often new straw taken for the purpose, they make each layer 
separate, and twist the straw so neatly around the edges that it 
looks as if it were braided, and is thus preserved from falling 
down and wasting. 

The sink-drains from the house connect with this reservoir, 
and farmers often build them near cities, to gather the treasures 
which are to them invaluable, and would otherwise do no man 
any good. 

Compost heaps are also made of weeds and all refuse which is 
not food for cattle. Leaves of trees are collected in another 
place and used for a peculiar soil. Gypsum and marl are also 
used, as well as ashes, turf ashes being considered better than 
wood. 

This is the secret of their agriculture, and explains how so 
many people can live upon so small a spa.ce. Red clover often 
furnishes four and six mowings a year, and other grasses are 
fruitful in proportion. 

We have sometimes seen an aqueduct and reservoir in front 
of a stable, with an engine for spouting pure water over the cows 
and their stalls, to keep them clean. 

Hunting is free to all, with a few slight restrictions for the 
protection of fields and gardens ; and the forests are open to 



208 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

joiners, carpenters, and basket-makers for all the wood they 
need in their several callings, and the wild berries and hroom stuff 
may be gathered by all who eat and sweep. 

There are one or two other articles of commerce in Switzer- 
land which we are sure no Englishman or American ever 
thought of " trading in ;'' and yet which might be made profita- 
ble perhaps, for the marshes bring forth as abundantly there as 
here. Catholics not being allowed to eat meat on Fridays, and 
various other days in the year, and Catholics being many in the 
land, all manner of fish are in great demand. Frogs and snails 
belong to the genus fish, and are collected in great numbers for 
cloisters, monks being among those who preach, but do not prac- 
tise, fasting. It is not necessary to enjoin the peasants to deny 
themselves meat, as they seldom eat it except on Sundays. 
Snails are fattened in gardens on certain kinds of leaves, and one 
may hear the chattering of their teeth as they eat, in passing 
by. From Zurich they are exported to Italy in the autumn. It 
is only frogs' legs that are eaten, and formerly they used to 
catch them and cut off their legs, leaving the animal to die a* 
painful and cruel death.* In a period of four years, the cloister 
Rheinau disposed of forty thousand snails, and thirty-six thou- 
sand pairs of frogs' legs. 

Zurich was among the first to subject the Church and her 
priesthood to the law, allowing them no preference above other 
citizens. In 1319, it is recorded that they permitted a priest to 
go for half a week to Baden for his health, but if he remained 
any longer, his salary would cease ; and they were often deposed 
for immorality and punished for crime. 

The sacrament was administered for the first time after the 
method of the reformed churches, April 13, 1525. Formerly, 

♦ This is now prohibited. 



ZUEICH. 209 

all the bells iu the city rang for church service, but now only 
those of the church where the people assemble. The ceremonies 
are nearly the same as in America, except that there is only one 
session. The Sunday-school is in the afternoon. 

Fairs and festivals are not so many in Zurich as in Lucerne, 
and not so many in the Protestant cantons generally as in the 
Cathohc. Fires are kindled on all the surrounding heights in 
the spring, but now they call it burning the last vestige of 
winter, and it is a sport only for boys. They gather stealthily 
the materials, and allow no sign of their preparations to be visi- 
ble, till at a given signal all blaze forth at once, and their songs 
through '' all the welkin ring.^' In the evening there are a few 
holding sports around the fireside, merely to make glad the 
hearts of the little ones. 

There is a meeting every year of the old men who are of the 
same age, to enjoy a dinner and a talk of the olden time. They 
first met in 1824, on the 8th of October. When there are not 
enough born in the same year for a respectable tableful, they 
include those of two years. They do not confine themselves to 
the simple cookery of the Bremen burghers, but allow the wine 
to flow merrily, and " their hearts do beat cheerily," yet it is no 
day of revel, only of gladness. 

On the day of ascension, the young people from the country 
ascend Mount Uetliberg, near Zurich, where those from the city 
join them, and sing psalms and hymns of praise to the Giver of 
all blessings. It is one of the prettiest of the festal days. 
The processions, like all peasant processions, are gay with flowers 
and bright ribbons, but their mirth is on this occasion chastened, 
without destroying then* gaiety. 

Shooting companies are universal in Switzerland, and every 
two years they hold a great festival in one of the principal 



210 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

cities. It is now a federal fete, and one which enUsts the sym- 
pathies and co-operation of the whole people. The first was 
held at Aarau in 1824, where a society was formed ; and though 
they were at first very simple they have now attained to an al- 
most fabulous splendour. This year it took place in Zurich, the 
first ten days in July. A volume would be necessary to describe 
it in detail, and then one would have little idea of the effect of 
the whole, enlivened by the enthusiasm of these liberty loving- 
people, thronging from their mountains and their valleys in the 
true spirit of brotherhood, to celebrate their oldest and best 
beloved national /e^e. 

To Zurich belonged the preparations for the reception of the 
guests, and she lavished her money and her taste with her usual 
spirit, of allowing nothing to fail of beauty or comfort in all the 
arrangements. 

The expediency of holding the festival when all Europe was 
trembhng with '' wars and rumours of war," was for a long 
time doubted, and when at length it was decided that there 
could be no serious reason for deferring it, the lateness of the 
hour obliged them to hasten the work. 

Three sides of a parallelogram were devoted to the necessary 
buildings, and displayed the light graceful architecture of the 
Swiss cottage, familiar to all by pictures and miniatures in sugar 
or wood. It included a dining-room which could accommodate 
several thousand persons, a spacious saloon, telegraph and post- 
office bureaux, kitchen, storeroom, and various lesser apart- 
ments. The background was devoted to the targets, which 
were a hundred in number, raised six or eight feet from the 
ground, and behind each an immense block of hewn granite to 
receive the bullets, and prevent all possibility of accidents. 

In the dining-room was a fountain with four jets, sparkling in 



ZUKICH. 211 

the midst of shrubbery aud flowers, and the whole was Kghted 
by hundreds of hurimrs, making a very fairyland in beauty and 
brilliancy. 

Finding that they were in danger of not being ready at the 
appointed time, the Austrian soldiers who had trespassed on the 
neutral soil of the Repubhc were invited to become helpers in 
erecting the temple of freedom, to which they did not seem at 
all averse, and performed diligently whatever their hands could 
find to do I 

In the centre of the parallelogram arose a Gothic temple, 
with twenty-three towers, the centre surmounted by the flag of 
the Confederacy, and those of the twenty-two cantons waving 
around. There was no interior to the building, but on its outer 
walls were suspended the jprizes for those who should win in this 
rivalry of sharp-shooters. The prizes were numbered, and each 
competitor had the privilege of selecting the one which he would 
try to win, in the division to which he belonged. The targets 
were of different kinds, some requiring more skill than others. 

The united value of the prizes was more than fifty thousand 
dollars, and presented a curious spectacle in their individual 
character, disposed, according to their worth and nature, on 
little nailSy so thickly as to form a covering like tapestry for the 
walls. The most of them were purses of different size and 
workmanship, containing gold of every possible amount. But 
as the Swiss in all countries contribute to this feature of the 
festival, there are some things characteristic of the lands in 
which they now dwell. Such is a Mexican saddle, of beautiful 
finish ; purses of fifty, eighty, and a hundred dollars, from 
New York and Philadelphia ; one of four hundred dollars from 
Memphis, Tennessee ; a similar one from Valparaiso and Con- 
stantinople. There are also silver cups and pitchers, china tea 



212 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

and coffee sets, watches, and rifles, all tastefully displayed and 
decorated. Each one pays a certain sum for the privilege of 
shooting, graduated according to the prize he strives to win. 
During the time of the festival there were between six and seven 
hundred thousand shots, and sometimes ninety in a moment.* It 
was like being within the sound of a battle, but the sight was 
one to be remembered with joy, and not with sorrow. 

The concourse of people was a multitude which no man 
could number. Every day came a new deputation, which was 
received at the railroad station by a committee from Zurich, 
who escorted them to the city with music and colours, showing 
them the town, and introducing them to the festal palace, to 
reach which all must pass through the triumphal arch, which 
was erected at one of the portals of the city, not far from the 
festal scene, which was without the gates. This beautiful speci- 
men of art was designed and finished entirely by tlie inhabitants 
of the neighbouring commune of Riesbach, and consisted of 
three arches, the centre being sufficiently large for carriages, and 
surmounted by a colossal statue of Tell, with his bow in one 
hand, and in the other the arrow which remained after he had 
cleft the apple from the head of his son. He is in the act of 
showing it to the tyrant, as he exclaims, " ISTow, if you would 
indeed know the truth, had I killed my child, your heart this 
second arrow had not failed," and beneath appeared the three 
men of Grutli, in the attitude of taking the oath. The whole 
was wreathed with evergreens and flowers, and was of singular 
beauty and effect. After the fete it was purchased and trans- 
ferred to the garden of a wealthy citizen of Zurich. 

Especially attractive was the deputation from the four forest 

* For the numbers in the two higlicst of the three divisions each person could shoot 
only once. 



ZUEICH. 213 

cantons, accompanied by the martial music of Lucerne, the four 
cantonal banners, William Tell and his boy, and three men bear- 
ing the notable horns, in the costume of the twelfth century. 
They were many hundreds in number, and were greeted by 
cannon, by cheers, by music, and every possible demonstration 
of joy from the countless throng through which they passed ; 
and Tery affecting was their surprise and pleasure as they halted 
before the triumphal arch, and with more slow and measured 
step proceeded to the Schutzenplatz. Here deafening cheers 
awaited them, and a speech from the temporary throne, which 
produced a solemn stillness ; and many a strong man might have 
been seen wiping the eye from which it had caused " the silent 
tear to flow." 

The star-spangled banner waved proudly from a conspicuous 
height, and th^ 4th of July happening on one day of the fete, 
was duly celebrated by the American Consul and some fifty 
Americans, who were granted the privilege of the festal hall 
for the occasion. Some grey-haired clergymen thought it no sin 
to di-ink wine on such a day ; and their toasts were none the 
worse for the exhilaration of the sparkhng beverage. The Swiss, 
not less than the Americans, seemed to enjoy the moment that 
enabled the two Republics to celebrate their national fete under 
the united banners of each. 

The field for the exhibition of the skill of the wrestlers was 
opposite the Schutzenjplatz, in the grounds of a private citizen, 
who offered them freely for the occasion. They entered the 
city in one phalanx, though coming from every valley in Swit- 
zerland, and bore aloft nearly fifty banners with original devices. 
They occupied the two last days of the/e^e, and attracted a mul- 
titude which increased by hundreds and thousands as they 
marched ; the long trains of railway-cars were crowded ; every 



214 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

diligence was laden with a gala-dressed group ; and from every 
pathway, over mountain and through valley, came the rustic 
vehicles like moving parterres, with happy villagers, their ban- 
ners and streamers fluttering in the breeze, till the city was one 
dense mass of human beings in grand jubilee, yet nowhere exhi- 
biting coarse revelry or unseemly mirth. 

The feats of the wrestlers we have elsewhere described ; and 
here they lasted from six in the morning till four in the after- 
noon. This was the first time they had shared the prizes with 
the shooting parties, and the value of these was doubly enhanced 
by the manner of offering them. Young 'girls, in white robes 
and red scarfs, stood upon a platform beneath a tent of blue 
and white, and each victor was called by name, and crowned 
with oak and laurel wreaths by those fair hands, besides receiv- 
ing appropriate prizes. One of these prizes appeared in the 
form of four white sheep, also wearing wreaths and ornamented 
with ribbons. 

On Sunday there was no shooting or wrestling, but all gath- 
ered together in the open air, a united Church as well as united 
people, to listen to the solemn services of the Sabbath, and a 
sermon which evinced the spirit and power of the divines of the 
Reformation. 

On one day the Duchess of Parma and her four children 
were conspicuous guests in the amphitheatre among the specta- 
tors, and at the table in the hall. For the third time an exile 
she fled for refuge to a free people ; and soon after came the 
plenipotentiaries to the same city, to settle by the wiles of diplo- 
macy what war could not effect. Strange that princes will not 
learn to make their own people free, that they may rule over 
them in peace. The Italian diplomatists evinced great interest 
in the institutions of the Republic ; visited the schools, and in- 



ZURICH. . 215 

quired diligently concerning all that could furnish them know- 
ledge of the practical workings of freedom ; but. the Austrian 
walked about in dogged silence and contempt, determined to be- 
lieve in nothing but grinding oppression, and to attach impor- 
tance to nothing but the etiquette, barbarity, and ignorance of 
the middle ages. 

We have no room for the speeches which were the daily events 
of the fete. They all had for their motto, " Union is strength !" 
and were very much like those which are heard every 4th of July 
in America, full of national pride, some vain boasting, and glow- 
ing with the enthusiasm which can only be exhibited by a free 
people. 

The last day was the anniversary of the entrance of Basle into 
the Confederacy three hundred and fifty-eight years before ; and 
they remamed the last to lower their colours and say farewell. 
Eight peals from the booming cannons announced the fall of the 
curtain upon the festal scene ; and all returned to tell the won- 
ders they had seen to those who had remained in the huts of the 
mountains and in the cots of the valleys. 




CHAPTER XIY. 



SCHAFFHAUSEN. 



OLD CITY — PRIDE AND EXCLUSITENESS — JEWS — COSTUME — KHINEEALL- — DIS- 
TINGUISHED MEN. 



ScHAFFHAUSEN IS the onlj canton where the people secured their 
freedom of church and state without dissensions and divisions 
between the city and country, the aristocracy and peasantry. 
They pride themselves on being a quiet and orderly people, and 
there is more of the sober and antique in their physiognomy 
than in any other city. They have not experienced so often or 
so lately the calamity of fire, and the old roofs look as if they 
might have passed through the flood. The coats-of-arms of many 
centuries are still to be seen on their fronts, and carvings and 
paintings, of which no man knows the signification, still adorn 
half the buildings. 

We think there must be funny old customs in such an old 
place, but the people are more modern than the walls within 
which they dwell. They profess to be more hospitable than any 
of their confederates ; but they have the same pride of birth, 
and the same boast of '' old families," though now their aristo- 
cracy is more of wealth than of pedigree. There are those 

216 



SCHAFFHAUSEN. 217 

among them who count ten centuries of illustrious ancestors, and 
some who can prove their blood to be coloured by a few drops 
of some distant cousin of the House of Hapsburg, which surely 
ought to make it very red, and yet are more proud of the coin 
in their coffers, and strive day and night for the gold that 
perisheth. 

One is as lawful as the other when made a reason for exclu- 
siveness and oppression, and the sole reason that Switzerland 
did not earlier settle into harmony and steadily increasing pros- 
perity with her free spirit and enterprising people, was, that the 
Government was based on privileges, and a class of people in 
almost every city assumed to themselves the right of enjoying 
something which the others could not obtain. Not till 1848 
did they succeed in getting rid of these haughty aristocrats, and 
the people of true republican spirit became so much in the 
majority, that they could say to all, of every class, " You are 
indeed free." Those who composed these supercilious oligarchies, 
being deprived of their political power, endeavour to show their 
resentment and superiority by shutting themselves within a nar- 
row circle, and boasting of what they were, determined not to 
believe, or at least not to acknowledge, that new men can equal 
them, or a Government which they did not form can exist and 
prosper. They would not acknowledge a king or a foreign 
bailiff, but they arrogated to themselves a power not less tyran- 
nical, and used it in a manner not less opposed to every prin- 
ciple of equality and justice. 

It was the restlessness of the people in those bonds that kept 
them forever in turbulence and rebellion ; and though the devasta- 
tion of Napoleon's armies was a curse, and their invasion unjustifi- 
able, his mediation was a blessing. He saw that he could not 
rule them, and he undertook to teach them to rule themselves. 

10 



218 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

They had demolished feudalism in form, but the spmt stiU Hved. 
Whatever may have been his motive, his mission was the same 
in Switzerland as in Germany — to crush this hydra-headed 
monster. 

During the period of his ten years' mediation, there was peace 
and prosperity ; he was dethroned, and all was again in con- 
fusion. But had he remained on the throne, it is not probable 
the people of Switzerland would have been long content to 
acknowledge his sceptre. A foreign ruler by any name was 
always their special aversion. "We are a free people, and a 
free people we will be," is the inborn spirit of the Swiss. But 
they learned of hun a lesson, and vrhat is more wonderful, they 
profited by it. There was no more rest till the native, as well 
as the foreign, oppressors were dethroned. The power has been 
entirely taken from their hands, but not till time has laid some 
of them still lower will Switzerland be entirely dehvered from 
their corrupt and demoralizmg influence m her institutions. 
Their hatred of the genuine freedom of the present Government 
is gall, wormwood, and bitterness. In one city we heard a 
family belonging to this aristocracy say they would not attend a 
party where a member of the Government was to be present ; 
and the caste of the Hindoo is not more prescribed than the line 
they have drawn between themselves and those whom they 
denominate jplebeians. Whether they attend the same church 
I do not know ; but they are here, as elsewhere, the people 
who make the greatest pretensions to piety, and profess to be 
the disciples of Christ whilst ignoring every principle which He 
preached and practised. 

There is less of this spirit in Schafihausen than in some other 
cities, and it thrives most in Berne, Soleure, and Geneva. 

Yet the laws concerning the Jews are of the most oppressive 



SCHAFFH AUSEN. 219 

and nnchristian nature in Schaffhausen, while in Berne and 
Geneva they are free in every respect as other citizens Here 
they are forbidden by the law to trade, to own real estate or 
cattle, and are not allowed equal privileges with other citizens 
in the courts of justice. They can reside in the canton only 
eight days, which is a permission evidently for their own interest, 
as Jews are permitted to trade in cattle at the public market, 
and in the stables of those who sell ; any infringement of this 
provision is punished by fine. 

They do not even recognise a bargain between a Jew and 
Christian as binding, unless it is made in the presence of the 
President of the Commune or the blood relatives of the Chris- 
tian. If a Jew lend money to a Christian, the law does not 
oblige it to be repaid ; he must do it at his own risk. A Jew 
cannot take a greater interest than five per cent. ; and in no 
instance is allowed compound interest for whatever sum he may 
lend. 

Letters of exchange, promissory notes, and other business 
transactions, are subject to the same restrictions ; and if a Jew 
should inherit real estate, he is obliged to sell it within a 
year. 

These are strange laws to remain on the statute-book of a free 
and Christian land, yet in six other cantons they are the same.* 
There is no anomaly so incomprehensible as that of a free people 
imposing slavery — of those who would die for a right or a privi- 

* We are indebted for these facts to an able document presented to the Swiss Federal 
Council by the Honomable Theodore S. Fay, resident minister of the United States at 
Berne, and now published in several languages. A remoustrance was made by Jews, 
who had become citizens of America, on account of the expense and trouble to which 
they were subjected when business obliged them to visit Switzerland, and it became the 
duty of the minister to secure to them the protection every American bad a right to 
demand. 



220 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

lege, denying it to others who are equally entitled to the utmost 
liberty. 

We are sorry to be obliged to expose the existence of so dark 
a stain upon this fair land, and hope that it will soon be blotted 
out. In all else it is a '^ goodly land and a pleasant," and the 
people who dwell therein right friendly to the stranger and the 
pilgrim who may happen to be within their borders. 

Agriculture is the occupation of the great proportion, and has 
adopted all modern improvements. In l^tl, there was a great 
famine in Switzerland, which was followed by a new impulse to 
agriculture. Men of science and influence devoted themselves to 
the study of soils, and the adaptation of different kinds of grains 
and fruits to their climate and tillage. There had existed a 
great prejudice against potatoes, which was overcome ; and 
since their multiplication and general use, want has disappeared. 
Nurseries were established to raise seed, and soil improved by 
artificial meadows and irrigation. 

The Napoleonic period is mentioned as a prosperous on^ for 
agriculture. Yery old and unjust laws were abrogated, one of 
which was, that every third year the land should lie fallow ; 
tithes were abolished, as well as the right to free pasture, by 
which the cattle occupied an extent of ground, that could be 
made to produce three times as much by cultivation, and their 
food became richer and more abundant. 

In Schaffhausen one half the land is in productive fields, and 
vineyards occupy thirty-five thousand acres. It is a rule in the 
northern cantons, where it is colder, to plant vines where wheat 
would ripen in ordinary years by St. Jacob's day.* Until 1*198 
the law forbade every one to plant vines without permission of 

* There are several St. Jacob's days in the calendar, but the one to which this refer? 
is probably the 25th of July. 



SCHA-FFaATTSEN. 221 

Government ; the reason being given that it was necessary to 
be sure vines should not be planted in an ungenial soil and clime. 
In some places where they are exposed to slides from heavy 
rains, they are planted in the form of the letter Y ; often have 
no particular form, bat are set here and there so far apart that 
one can easily pass between the stocks. Often the principal 
branch is bent in the form of a circle, and bound to a stake, on 
the principle that the lower the stock the better is the wine ; but 
the nearer they are to the earth, the more they are in danger of 
frost. In winter the stakes are removed, and the vines laid upon 
the earth, and covered with manure, or merely loosened and left 
to the protection of the snow. Different methods are practised 
everywhere according to the climate and soil. In Zurich they 
have vines a hundred years old. 

In Schafifhausen they are very utilitarian, and do not encou- 
rage vine culture, saying it requires six times more outlay in the 
beginning, and four times more labour, and is the most preca- 
rious of all products. 

The peasant costume is a dark blue skirt with a red border, 
red stockings, and shoes bound with blue ; a yellow apron, which 
forms part of the bodice, and blue kerchief round the neck, with 
the ends hanging below the waist. The hair is brought to the 
top of the head, and arranged in two large braids. The men 
wear small clothes and blue stockings, a jacket, with the lappets 
of yellow, a red vest and blue neckerchief. 

There are no Alps and no shepherds, and very few flocks. 

There is a school in every commune, and all the children can 
attend as early as five years of age, and must as early as seven, 
continuing in summer till they are eleven, and in winter till they 
are fourteen. In the city there are high schools, and a superior 
one for young ladies. 



222 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The Church affairs are regulated upon the most republican 
plan, by an equal number of delegates from the Church and 
State, and the laity possessing an equal voice in all things with 
the clergy. To all the thirty-five pastors in the canton the 
State allows about one thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars, 
which cannot afford to each a very luxurious life. Everywhere 
in the country in Switzerland the church service commences on 
Sunday as early as seven or eight o'clock in the morning. When 
we asked why they assembled so early, they said, " Oh, the 
people would become sleepy before it was over, if it began later." 
The clergyman enters the church first, and when the people are 
assembled, all sing together. The pastor then ascends the pulpit 
and reads a prayer, during which all the people stand. The law 
forbids the sermon to be more than an hour in length. After 
this is again prayer, and then publication of marriages, if there 
are any, and other notices, when they again sing, and the bless- 
ing is pronounced. 

Between twelve o'clock and one they have the Sunday-school. 

In all the churches we have seen, the baptismal font is of hewn 
stone, in front of the pulpit, large enough to hold several gallons. 
Here it is the same, but the baptisms take place on Wednesday 
and Friday afternoon, at four o'clock. The sacrament is 
administered five times during the year, on Sunday, the table 
being spread by placing a board upon the font, and the bread, 
which is unleavened, is broken and laid upon plates. The cups 
are of silver in the city, but sometimes of tin in the country. All 
pass in a row to the table, the men having the precedence, taste 
the bread and wine, saying at the same time, " This bread which 
we break, and this cup which we drink." There is a service on 
the Saturday afternoon previous, and also on the ordinary festi- 
val days. 



SCHAFFHAUSEN. 223 

There are no Catholics in the canton except in one little com- 
mune, which was not united to Schaffhausen till 1^99. 

They have a custom, similar to that which exists in Zurich, of 
announcing a bk'th bysendmg a young girl to each house, orna- 
mented with flowers ; but she does not carry a bouquet in her 
hand except for a boy. At every house she receives a present 
for her message. 

At weddmgs the bridal pair receive presents from guests, but 
do not also exchange them with each other, but they exhibit 
a curious pecuUarity in employing the tailor of the bridegroom 
to invite the guests. 

Funerals are announced first by a woman, who wears a black 
veil or mask ; and the next day a man clothed in black goes to 
every house, rings or knocks, pronouncing the name of each 
person whom he invites. Expressions of sympathy and shaking 
of hands are received at the door, between twelve and one 
o'clock. The moment the clock strikes one, the coffin is covered 
with black, and taken up by the bearers, who are in number accord- 
ing to the rank of the deceased. The procession is formed, first 
by the male relations, the guild brothers, and then the poor, who 
afterwards receive gifts. Whilst the coffin is being lowered into 
the grave, all assemble in church, where a simple prayer is offered 

Every Sunday, men in long brown striped mantles knock at 
each door to obtain money, which forms a fund for those who 
are afflicted with some incurable disease. As they pass from 
house to house they sing, in no very musical chorus. 

The cantonal colours are black and green, the long robe of 
the Landwdhd being quite black, with a narrow green stripe in 
the skirt. Upon their shield appears, in full length, a sheep ; 
but the origin of such a promotion of these unpretending 
animals we do not know. 



224 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

In the eighth century there were only a few boatmen's huts 
where the city stands, and little skiffs the only vessels on the 
water. Tlius it derived its name, scapha being the Latin for 
skiff, and the whole name Scafhusum. From the Swiss we have 
often heard this pronunciation, which is in accordance with 
their custom of leaving out the first letter of a dii3hthong, and 
placing the accent on the last. 

It is mentioned as a curious fact, that the Rhinefalls are not 
alluded to by any ancient or classic author. Yet they are not 
the less famous in these days, and the one attraction of modern 
Schaffhausen. We went to see them, of course ; and when we 
came in sight of a cascade, said to some one standing near, 
" What is this ?" " The Rhinefall, to be sure : is it not wonder- 
ful ?" " Are you sure it is the Rhinefall ?" " Yes ; why do 
you doubt it ?" " It is not so large as I expected, and does not 
seem so very grand." There had been a smile on our face, 
which spoke even plainer than our words, that it appeared very 
insignificant. "But where can you find anything to equal it ?" 
pm'sued the gentleman, who was a German, from Russia. We 
answered very quietly, ''We are from America." "Oh," 
answered he, and burst out laughing, " it is not so strange : but 
for me, I have seen nothing finer, though I have read of 
Niagara. 

We were not so foolish as to expect a second Niagara, but 
we expected the Rhinefall to surpass all lesser ones, yet in this 
we were also disappointed. We have seen some that struck us 
as much finer, on the whole, even in Switzerland ; yet it is the 
grandest they have in Europe, and is beautiful, as are all water- 
falls. The greatest height is one hundred feet. The river alone 
is three hundred feet broad, and when the banks are fall, the 
volume of water very large. It is certainly strange that it 



SCHAFFHA.USEN. 225 

should not have been mentioned by those who wrote of the city 
in its early days. 

There is a salmon fishing in the bay below, which belongs to 
the cloister Allenherlingen, and catching trout, a privilege which 
must be bought of the old monks who dwell there. They are 
said to be worth the price, and never to sell for less than twenty 
sous a pound. 

Hunting is a privilege of the State, which they grant to all 
who will pay two or three dollars, for it ; thus deriving an in- 
come from the forests of some hundreds of dollars every year. 

This canton, as will be seen by the map, is a little circle, 
almost surrounded by the Duchy of Baden. It is infinitely 
curious to observe the difference of the people, divided only by 
an imaginary line, and the problem which presents itself every- 
where, and which we are never able entirely to solve, is here 
more intricate than in many other places, how these few people 
were able to throw off the yoke of foreign oppression, while those 
around them still groan under its burden. A French author, 
who wrote some thh'ty years since, said, in travelling along the 
borders, between Baden and Schaffhausen, that on one side the 
people looked thriving and happy ; and on the other they were 
" covered with dirt, and half begged while the other half col- 
lected taxes I" They are a little improved from this picture 
smce, but yet not very much. The taxes in Baden are nearly 
five tknes as great as in Schaffhausen, yet the people live by the 
same toil, and have the same resources. The rates of taxation, 
which we give on the next page, will show plainer than anything 
else the reason of the absence of that extreme poverty in Swit- 
zerland which is to be found everywhere else in Europe. Their 
Goverment machinery costs scarcely anything ; for with them, 
as in America, no one expects to live by a Government office, 

10* 



226 



THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 



and there is no class of people supported in idleness by the toil 
of others.* 

Schaffhausen was a great acquisition to the Confederacy, 
because of its position of defence, and as a post for the commerce 
of transit, and she has proved not less valuable in her fidelity to 
the spirit of the republic, and the support of its institutions. The 
greatest historian of Europe was a native of this httle canton, 
and she has given many to the ranks of usefulness and honour. 
Wagner is known as among the reformers scarcely less influential 
than Luther and Zwinglius, and the celebrated " Elegy of 
Folly," written by Erasmus, owed much of its spirit to the 
" Library of Fools," by Geiler, of Schaffhausen, who lived in 
the fifteenth century. There originated the first effort to in- 

* Bate of taxation in different countries, in francs and centimes, a franc being a 
little less than twenty cents, and ^oe centimes equal to a cent. 





F. c. 




F. C. 


Great Britain 


. . 33 20 


Sachs Weimer . 


. . 577 


France . . 


. 12 So 


Kurhessen . . 


. . 5 47 


Holland. . . 


. 12 67 


Hanover . . . 


. . 5 38 


Baden . . 


. 9 95 


Wurtemberg . 


. . 4 76 


Prussia . . 


. . 9 3T 






Darmstadt . 


. 8 75 


Zurich .... 


. . 2 35 


Denmark . 


. 8 70 


Schaffhausen . 


. . 1 23 


Portugal. . 


. 7 73 


Lucerne . . . 


. . 1 63 


Bavaria . , 


. 6 85 


Argovia . . . 


. . 1 74 



Valais 
St. Gall 



Neuchatel . 
Berne . . . 
Basil Land . 
Soleure . . 
Vaud . . . 



2 7 
2 54 
2 63 
2 98 
G 9 



We give the expense of supporting the three governments of Zurich, Weimer, and 
Brunswick, states nearly of the same size and population. A thaler is about twenty 
cents less than a dollar. 



Zurich. 



Court . . . 


. . 


State Debt . 


. . 8,600 


Military . . 


. . 122,000 


Pensions . . 


. . 4,000 



129.600 



Weimer. 


Brunswick. 


250,000 


200,000 Thalers. 


800,103 


428,407 


153,825 


315,287 " 


106,498 


127,990 " 


815 921 


1,131,684 Thalers. 



SCHAFFHAUSEN. 227 

struct the deaf and dumb, in a treatise written by Annan, a 
physician and botanist, whose works are still read with interest. 

The celebrated astronomical clocks of the cathedrals of 
Cologne and 'Strasburg were constructed by artists of Schafif- 
hausen, and Mosier, sculptor and painter, was President of the 
Academy of Painting of Great Britain. Trippel, who studied 
at Copenhagen, Paris, and Rome, had Canova among his pupils, 
and was one of the first sculptors of his age. He died, 1775. 

But the name of which they, and perhaps Switzerland, is most 
proud, is Miiller, who was for a long time almost their only his- 
torian, and who was honoui'ed by every court of Europe. Hav 
ing been professor of Greek many years in his own country, he 
was invited to Cassel and Berlin, and afterwards was sent as 
diplomat from Mayence to Rome. At Vienna he was created 
Chevalier of the Empire, and director of the Imperial Library 
JS'apoleon constituted him Minister of State at Westphalia, and 
Director of Pubhc Instruction, and he was long the life and soul 
of several German universities. He died at Cassel, in 1809, 
where Louis of Bavaria has erected a monument to his memory. 
His birthplace was the humble home of a poor citizen of Schaff- 
hausen. His maternal grandfather was Pastor Schoop, who 
collected a considerable library of history for those times' ; and 
one day, calHng his little grandson into the room where they were, 
he said, " I have collected these books and written these chro- 
nicles for you. Take good care df them and read them atten- 
tively." The face of the boy lighted up with a new expression, 
and he exclaimed, '' Grandpa, I wish also to ^vi-ite a book." 
The old man Uttle dreamed how faithfully his treasures would 
be preserved and pondered on. At five years old he assisted at 
the nuptials of one of his parents, and mounting a chair, recited 
dramatically a portion of history in such a manner that all were 



228 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

enchanted. At nine years of age, he commenced the history of 
his native city. 

When at Gottingen, a professor tried to detach him from his 
country, and the love of its free institutions, but he wrote to his 
father, " No, I will come back to live with you in the bosom of 
my country, and beloved by friends of virtue. It is better to 
eat black bread, dipped in water, than commit one act unworthy 
of the nobility of our souls." When at Greneva, speaking of his 
household, he said, '' My servants love me, accustomed as I am 
to despise no man, however humble. We are the children of one 
God, and pride is one of the greatest curses of humanity." 

When he was writing his history, his brother wrote to ask 
why he was so slow in producing it ? He said, " I must be 
sure that it is correct ; there is not a chapter that I have not 
re-written many times, not a phrase which has not cost me many 
perusals in my chamber." Long years after it was finished, he 
was travelling among the people of the little cantons, and com- 
ing to the ruins of an old castle, he saw a peasant, and asked 
him what it was. The man immediately gave him the story, and 
when questioned as to its authority and authenticity, he ex- 
claimed, " Have I not read it all in the history of Mtiller, of 
Schaffhausen ?" All who would learn anything of Swiss history 
must read the same, as it is the standard and true record of the 
glory and the shame of his country.* 

* Having decided to desciibe Switzerland by cantons, we found the most difficult part 
of tbe task to be a correct representation of each, without indulging in repetition. 
Many of the most interesting tilings are common to all, much in the general life, customs, 
agriculture, and history are the same everywhere, but we confine oursfilves entirely to 
that which dififers in each, as the only way of presenting a complete idea of the whole. 
They cannot, therefore, be judged separately, though thus written. Together they form 
Switzerland, and like the parts of the body, each is necessary to the beauty and per- 
ection of the whole, but a very indifferent and uninteresting object when standing alone. 
The country life and manners of Schaffhausen would in detail too much res'unblc. those 
jf Zurich and Argovie to allow of particular description. 




CHAPTER Xy. 



BASLE. 



SOCIAL LIFE — OPINIONS OF OLD AUTHORS — REVOLUTIONS — JEWS — ROBBERS 
LOOMS — CELEBRATED — MEN. 



Basle is at the same time the most ancient and the most 
modern of cities. In some things its inhabitants have made the 
greatest progress, and in others they still remain at the very be- 
ginning of the middle ages. Ever since anything has been said 
of them at all, they have been called " cold, haughty, and ex- 
clusive." Strangers who dwell among them at this day say the 
same, and in one of their own journals, published not many 
years since, we find what they say of themselves in the following 
editorial remarks : " Basle people are not favourites at home, or 
abroad, and for this they are somewhat at fault. They are 
thought to be excessively economical, but this is true only of 
the rich. They have equipages, to be sure — a country house, 
and a house in town ; they travel and visit watering-places, but 
they keep few servants, and spread a frugal table. They seldom 
make parties, and never go to theatres or plays. The furniture 
is very plain in their houses, and their dress very simple. One 
reason of these habits of economy may be that they usually 

229 



230 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

make their own fortunes, and have for them a peculiar afiTection. 
When they part with a little gold, they feel as if parting with 
their identity. 

" Most fathers retam their fortunes till death, and sons are 
not educated to live on independent incomes. They are not 
more avaricious than elsewhere, but on the contrary remarkably 
benevolent. Taxes and subscriptions for objects of charity are 
very frequent, and also legacies to found benevolent institutions. 
But it is very seldom that a man parts with any portion of his 
fortune during his hfetime for the public good. Even when 
childless, he never thinks of promoting the happiness of his 
fellow-citizens or the beauty of the State. 

" They are social in a certain way, but a public, noble, social 
life is not known among them. They are not idlers. Very few 
are ever to be seen at inns, clubs, or reading-rooms, but their 
life is business. 

" Among women there are sewing circles and family parties ; 
but such a thing as a soiree or mixed company, never. There 
are a few concerts for the rich, and two or three balls in the 
course of the winter. There are no coffee-gardens, and no people 
in the pubHc walks. How the marriageable youth ever become 
acquainted with each other is a mystery. 

" If this is the way they comport themselves to each other, 
what can strangers expect ? and it is true, that they are not only 
not cordial to strangers, but glad to get rid of them. Whether 
it is the result of pride, self-complacency, or easy indifference, we 
cannot tell. One reason is, that no marriages take place out 
01 then* own circles, and thus no ties are formed to lead them to 
take an interest in any who dwell not among them. 

" Another reason is the influence of the guilds. Every me- 
chanic is jealous of strangers,, and sees in each one a competitor 



BASLE. 231 

who will by some production rival and depreciate his own. This 
leads to a secret war of all towards all, or a reserve, which, pre- 
vents all cordiality and friendliness. They are often heard to 
deplore this among themselves, and say they ought to change ; 
but nothing is done towards effecting so important a social revo- 
lution." 

This is a true picture, but it is not true of Basle alone. In 
many towns of Switzerland and Germany there is the same cold, 
stiff unsociality, often merely because they do not know any 
other way. If a family or an individual comes into the place, 
to whom they really wish to be polite, they give a ball for them, 
and of course think it a great trouble and great expense, dread 
it and groan over it, and end with the conclusion, "that stran- 
gers are a great nuisance," and the resolution to let them alone. 
They have friends and society enough for their own pleasure ; and 
neither as a matter of Christian duty or benevolence or common 
kindness will they make an effort to promote the happiness of 
another. They never go where they see anything different, and 
how can they practise what they never heard of ? Their balls 
are insufferably stupid, a constant whirl of dances, without the 
relief of conversation, after the manner of the middle ages, when 
''brave knights and fair ladies," stiff with brocade and powder, 
whirled each other round, because they were not capable of any 
higher amusement. There was some excuse for them, because 
knowledge was not within their reach, and intelligence had then 
not even a name. But it is a still more ridiculous sight to see 
gentlemen and ladies in these days, who call themselves edu- 
cated, spend a whole evening in these puppet performances. 
Yet they are not a great way from France, where conversation 
is the highest accomplishment, where at a ball the dancing is 
only secondary, and where little unceremonious gatherings foi 



232 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

the sole purpose of conversation are the occurrences of every 
evening. 

There can be no such thing as hospitahty where great dinners 
or great suppers are the ne plus ultra; and until this idea is 
banished from Switzerland and Germany, they will never be 
either hospitable or intelligent, elegant in manners or hberal in 
opinion ; because these accomplishments can only be acquired 
by an easy and cordial intercourse with others of different na- 
tions and different customs, and those who affect to be religious 
without hospitality, must study something besides the New Tes- 
tament for example and precept. 

At the time of the great Council in Basle in 1438, when five 
hundred ecclesiastics assembled and remained months within its 
walls, ^neas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius the Second, acted 
as secretary. He wrote also some familiar letters to Cardinal 
Julian concerning the manners and customs of the people. In 
one of them he says, " There are no old houses, because the city 
has experienced so many earthquakes, and no remnants of the 
middle ages ! They have gardens and brunnens, and eat and 
sleep in heated rooms, which are finished very beautifully with 
panels and glass windows, and furnished hke Florentine houses. 
The rich people have apartments in front like palaces for rich- 
ness, and beautiful fountains before almost every door. They 
are very pious, but have no fancy for heathen literature, and 
never heard of Cicero. The nobihty have a winter and summer 
residence and large buildings for balls. The rich dress in black, 
and eat a great part of the day. The boys go barefoot, and 
the women wear white or black shoes. They are very upright, 
and rather be honest than appear so." 

We are always particularly interested in the transactions of 
the year 1492, and find at this period in Basle the Government 



BASLE. 233 

principally concerned in enacting laws against extravagance in 
dress, bat they are too similar to those in Zurich and Lucerne 
to need repetition ; and during two or three centuries the ma- 
gistrates were employed a good portion of the time in the same 
way. They constituted a police to regulate customs, and ascribe 
the simplicity of the people to this measure. 

Castles were almost as numerous in the region of Basle as in 
Graubtinden, and the city beset with nobility ; but so early as 
1260 the privileges of the burgesses were formally written, and 
they insisted that emperors and bishops and noblesse should 
respect their rights. Before the seventeenth century nearly all 
the noble families had died out, moved away, or incorporated 
themselves with the citizens. 

In 15 tl, an author wrote, " Basle is a very beautiful city and 
the people very honest. A chest of gold or silver might stand 
in the street, and no one would touch it. Men have no need of 
arms, and the women no need of protectors." 

Yet only ten years later, Montaigne wrote, " The people are 
Calvinists, Zwinglians, and heathen ; the women without mo- 
desty, and the men drunken." 

In 1610, some one says, " The houses are very beautiful, and 
the women beautiful beyond example, and dress richer than in 
any other land. There is scarcely any difference between 
masters and servants in dress or manners ; they sit at the same 
table, only the servants take their places later, and rise earlier." 

In 1658, we find in the book of a Bernese, " The people of 
Basle dress more than in any other city of Switzerland. They 
wear velvet shoes embroidered with pearls ; but they are coarse 
in their manners. Some merchants went the other day to the 
fair at Strasburg, and entered the inn, where were already set 
many tables for dinner. The innkeeper sent the servant with a 



234 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

roast goose, and told him to set it before the Basle people 
* Where are they V asked the servant. * Oh, look around when 
you go in, and where they are the noisiest and most ill-bred, set 
down the goose,. and you will make no mistake.' 

" The servant had no sooner opened the door, than some one 
cried out, ' Here, you dog, hand us the goose.' He thought to 
himself, ' Surely these are the Basilians,' and obeyed their com- 
mand, finding afterwards that he was right." 

Yet twenty years later a Parisian says of them, ''They are 
upright and courteous beyond most people. They have been 
called coarse and awkward, but it is not true." 

Dr. Moore wrote of them in 17 1 9, "They are very exclusive 
and earnest, and the few I saw very stiff. Whether this is real 
or affected, I could not tell, but how it ever became an opinion 
that solemn gravity in the every-day business and intercourse of 
life is evidence of uncommon understanding, I never could con- 
ceive." 

A Saxon who visited them in 1785 writes, " They never have 
any but family parties, and know nothing of mixed assemblies. 
Every one, when he leaves, must express his thanks to the 
hostess in a formal manner, and not to say ' Good evening ' to 
the host is a breach of politeness ! The ladies are handsome, 
and the burghers' daughters usually learn French and dancing." 

In 1786, a Swiss author says, " They live too much in families, 
and become narrow-minded and obstinate in opinion." 

In 1809, one of their own citizens says of them, " Their social 
life is too earnest and serious ; they do not know enough of 
modern literature or the times. Coffee is seldom allowed even 
in rich families, and the style of dress which a lady has when 
she is married must be worn through life ; a man would think 
he was traitor to his country if he allowed her to do otherwise. 



BASLE. 235 

Wh(5n the meu are not engaged in business, they assist their 
wives and train then* daughters. The family festivals are new 
year's, name days, harvest and vintage." 

These various testimonies in the early periods leave the im- 
pression, that exclusiveness was originally the characteristic of 
the people of Basle ; and still, in 1837, a German says of them, 
" As proud and earnest as their Mtinster are the Basilians. 
Even aristocratic Berne does not compete with patrician Basle, 
where piety and quiet contrast with gilt and glitter." 

And in the same year a Frenchman wiites, '' One would 
thiuk the whole city was to let, judging from the closed windows 
and doors, where neither ladies nor children are to be seen on 
the balconies, nor pretty maidens chatting at the fountains, 
nothing but servants with their everlasting mops, scrubbing, 
scrubbing. The fronts of the houses are all closed, but one 
need not conclude from this that the ladies never look out of 
the window and have no curiosity. They have little glasses, 
which are arranged at the side of the window, and reflect all 
that passes in the street without any greater efifort than turning 
their eyes.* This is the unsociality of all the Swiss. Whether 
it is republican exclusiveness, or aversion to social pleasure, or 
burgher pride, or the egotism of small states, which is the 
greatest hindrance to small governments, we cannot decide." 

These are the opinions of many people of various positions, 
who saw all classes ; and if we add the testimony of 1859, it 
would not differ materially. They are determined not to 
change. 

Yet there is a strange inconsistency between this selfish social 
evil and the interest and benevolence they manifest towards all 

* These glasses we saw also in Germany and other cities in Switzerland, and they are 
very convenient for those who are willing to be seen, and those who are not. 



236 



THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 



classes of j^oor, and towards the heathen of other lands. They 
support one hundred and fifty colporteurs in France, and distri 
bute seven thousand Bibles annually. 

The whole canton is twenty square leagues in extent, of 
which the city occupies scarcly two. The whole population is 
seventy-eight thousand, and the city numbers about thirty thou- 
sand. Their separation and the cause we have elsewhere ex- 
plained, as being entirely in consequence of the unwiUingness of 
the city to grant to the country an equality in representation and 
in the enjoyment of rights and privileges. They remonstrated 
and remonstrated in vain, and then rebelled, fomenting and re- 
taining a bitter spirit, which is ahke detrunental to the interests 
of all. 

But the influence of the Federal Government is everywhere to 
harmonize and create a national feeling. If they can now only 
remain in peace long enough to carry out the measures of the 
Federal Council, and prove the wisdom of unity, they will in 
the next ten years progress more than they have in the last hun- 
dred. 

The insurrections and disputes of which we read so much in 
Switzerland are misunderstood and misrepresented. Monarch- 
ists quote them to prove the instability of republics, and the 
unfitness of the people to govern themselves ; when the truth is, 
they prove exactly the contrary. So long as oppression existed 
in any form, and rights and privileges were secured to one class, 
which were entirely beyond the reach of others, however worthy 
they might become, or however they might struggle and toil to 
obtain them, so long there was restlessness and discontent. The 
country people of Canton Basle asked only what it was right they 
should have, and though the Federal Diet and the Federal 
troops came to force them to yield, they resisted unto blood. 



BASLE. 23T 

And when they found the city would not yield and admit them 
on an equality, they withdrew and formed a distinct Govern- 
ment by themselves. As soon as they were free, they were con- 
tent ; and it is only eleven years since this equality was spread 
over all the republic. 

In Basle the guilds are still in full operation, with the same 
laws and restrictions as existed in the thirteenth century. In 
1798 they were abolished, and all protection removed ; but 
during the period of mediation, in 1803, they were restored, as 
far as mechanical trades are concerned. Under this head they 
number sixteen in the city, and to one of these every citizen 
must belong, enrolhng his name at the age of twenty, at which 
period he begins to exercise the right of suffrage ; those who 
have a trade inscribing their names in the guild-hook of the trade 
or caUing to which they belong ; and those who follow a busi- 
ness or profession not included among the number of guild 
corporations, are recorded members where their fathers are. 

These corporations superintend the different benevolent socie- 
ties for the support of widows, and the guardianship of orphans. 

The guild-regulations are the same of those we described at 
length in Germany. Each one must learn his trade by a regular 
apprenticeship ; travel a certain period, finish a masterpiece, and 
be regularly received into the guild, conforming to all its laws 
and requirements. jS'o one who has not been thus approved can 
work at any trade ; no one can make articles belonging to the 
trade of another ; and nothing made elsewhere of the same kind 
as that produced in the city can be sold. Compensation is fixed, 
and the time of payment. Formerly, legitimate birth was one 
of the requisitions to brotherhood, but this statute is repealed. 
Ea€h guild is taxed for the aid of the apprentices, and for those 
who are sick. 



238 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The liberal-minded among themselves say that the object of 
protection, which is professed, is not secured ; and the whole 
system is evil, and not good. 

The nmnber of inns is prescribed by law ; but the small coffee- 
houses and restaurants are not limited, except to ordain that 
only citizens can estabhsh them. It is not strange to find people 
who are thus exclusive to Christians, exercising the most uujust 
and ilhberal policy towards the Jews. 

In the city no Jew is allowed to have a residence unless born 
there, and the children of these must obtam special permission 
in order to remain. 

In the country all trade and commerce are denied to Jews 
without exception. Whoever employs a Jew in business or in 
the family is liable to a fine of sixty dollars. In case of repeti- 
tion of the offence, the punishment is seventy-five days' imprison- 
ment. Thus a father may have a son in America who cannot 
visit his home or participate in the employment of his family 
without incurring the penalty of the law. 

On the days of fairs and markets, Jews may expose their 
wares, but a peddler is not allowed in the land. 

If any one rents a shop to a Jew, he is fined ten dollars. 

They may travel through the canton if furnished with a good 
passport, but any one who will inform against a Jew is allowed 
a third of the fine which is demanded for transgression. 

There are no restrictions in city or country concerning trades 
carried on after the manner of manufactm*cs. These include silk, 
cotton, woollen, straw, paper, tobacco, burning tiles, and cahco 
printing. 

The first paper-mill established in Switzerland was at Basle, 
in 14 to ; the first printing-press in 1460 ; and we may see speci- 
mens of their books in the Library printed in 1474. 



BASLE. 239 

One thousand persons are employed in the different processes 
of cotton manufacturing, but it is the ribbons which have gained 
for Basle its modern ''wonder and renown." 

As in Zurich, the looms for this species of industry are scat- 
tered all over the country ; and should we enter any house, the 
scene would be nearly the same as that we described where the 
web was gros de JYaples, In weaving ribbons the loom is filled 
with many webs instead of one. Besides those who weave, are 
those who quill. This is done by the aged and children ; and 
there are some also who twist and reel. Often all these may be 
seen in the same house in full operation, and sometimes three or 
four looms working together. They have, too, the art of dye- 
ing to perfection, with the knowledge of chemical proportions 
and combinations which enables them to produce all the colours 
of the rainbow, and many more, with an exactness that defies 
competition. But more curious it is to see those delicate offices 
performed by hands that cook, and sweep, and dig, and scrub, 
with equal ease and indifference. Behold a loom filled with the 
richest scarlet ribbon in brocade and flowers. The notable 
housewife weaves a yard or two, and attends to her potatoes for 
dinner, — weaves .another yard, and fries her sausage and boils 
her sauerkraut. The table is laid, and while the "gude man" 
is washing the dust of the field from his hands, she steps into 
the loom, and adds a mite to the silken treasure ; and thus are 
finished, in all their elaborate details, these beautiful fabrics. 

Scattered over the country are between four and five thou- 
sand looms, which employ in weaving, quilhng, reeling, dyeing, 
etc. nearly twenty thousand people, who yet spend a goodly 
portion of their time in other ways. These looms have increased 
two or three thousand in the course of the last century. 

But in the city there are large manufactories, which employ 



240 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

each three thousand persons. It is a still prettier and more 
wonderful sight to see hundreds of looms each filled with a dif- 
ferent colour, or with webs each of many colours, developing by 
a process, which is to us so incomprehensible, flowers and figures 
and checks, without the variation of a thread ; all the machin- 
ery regulated upon the same principle, and moved by the same 
power. We have wondered where the webs were all white and 
of the same length and width, but here we stood wondering al- 
most like 

"Katterfelto with his hair on end." 

To describe the machinery would be as impossible to us as to 
measure the stars. The noise is a buzz, more torturing than 
the loud thumping of coarser and heavier looms ; and in the de- 
tails there are many variations from the ordinary construction 
of reeds and shuttles and beams. 

In one factory are produced fifty thousand yards a day, and 
three millions of dollars' worth go every year to America. We 
said to the obliging proprietor, who accompanied .us over every 
part of the establishment, ''They are very dear when they get 
to us ;" and he said he was very happy to hear it ! But what 
is stranger, they are no cheaper right here within the sound of 
the buzz, than when they have crossed the Atlantic. 

In another room they are assorting the skeins, and finding 
" a thread that will runf and in different apartments are twist- 
ings and twirlings of all descriptions, with every na,il and reel 
and beam and spindle wreathed with the brilliant threads. The 
floors are also covered with the same, and it seemed to us almost 
like scattering gold-dust in such profusion. 

There must be a great waste of the raw material in the differ- 
ent processes, but they understand very well how t«) calculate 



BASLE. 241 

loss and profit, so as to make the prices atone for each particle 
that falls. 

The spinners and weavers, all women, have a neat, tidy look, 
which is not usual in factories, and in no instance seem haggard 
and life-weary. The average wages paid each is three dollars and 
seventy-five cents per week, and sometimes whole families are 
employed ; and if there are four persons, this amounts to fifteen 
dollars. But some individuals are paid five dollars or five dol- 
lars and fifty cents a week : and if any one is sick so that she 
cannot work, her wages are continued just the same, 8,nd those 
who have spent their lives in the factory, receive their accus- 
tomed wages in old age till they die. Among the operatives 
there is an association, to which all belong, taxing themselves to 
provide a fund for the sick and aged, and to this the proprietors 
contribute a sum equal in amount to that furnished by the 
members. 

The buildings stand in an open, healthy place, and are 
furnished with air and water in abundance, and we could not 
see that there was anything lacking, that justice or humanity 
required, which it would be possible to have in the performance 
of such labour. 

So late as the last century a law was made prohibiting ladies 
to dress entirely in silk ; and on the Sabbath all were required 
to wear black in church. No citizen was allowed to have a 
footman mounted behind his carriage within the city, or to 
clothe him in livery. » 

In 1711, it was prohibited to perambulate the city after ten 
o'clock in the evening ; and no person could drive a carriage 
with four horses, unless he could prove that he had at least 
three leagues to travel. 

At the time the University of Basle was founded, in 1460, 

11 



242 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

there were only seven in Europe ;* and it had the first year 
two hundred and twenty students. 

In 1521, Erasmus was enrolled among its professors, and many 
of the theologians of the Reformation added to its celebrity. 

The city derives its name from a fortified castle named Basilia' 
built in 360 by Yalentinian I., and from that day to this it has 
been renowned, first in one way and then in another, but always 
renowned 

There is an old house here, as well as in Zurich, where a 
troubadour is said to have poured forth his sighs in song beneath 
the lattice ; and many a legend of the dark ages clings to its 
towers. 

For centuries their clocks had the peculiarity of striking an 
hour in advance, and when from the great tower one pealed 
forth, the watchman cried twelve. The members of the great 
council were accused of regulating them in a way to do this in 
order to prolong their sessions. But from whatever cause they 
went wrong, they utterly refused to be set right till a few years 
since. 

The glory of Basle in the field of science is Euler, who was 
born in 170T. He founded the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, 
and was called by Catherine to be President of the Imperial 
Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg. His works on mathe- 
matics are the study of all who wish to be renowned in the same 
department of learning. 

The first botanical garden of which we have any knowledge 
flourished on Basilian soil, and was planted by Felix Plates, 
who died in 1614 ; and the first local flora originated also with 
a professor in the same University. It was the school of all the 

* Bologne, Paris, Cologne, Heidelberg, Friburg in Baden, Erfurt, and Vienna. 



BASLE. 243 

Swiss and many German reformers. Basilian diplomatists and 
generals have added lustre to every European court and army ; 
and her poets and artists have received the homage of a world. 
The elder Holbein was born in Augsburg, and was invited to 
Basle to paint the Hotel de Ville. It was the native city of 
his sons, the younger of whom went to England recommended 
by Erasmus ; none of them painted the famous " Dance of 
Death," as is often stated, which is due to an artist of Berne. 
Ornamenting houses with frescoes was first commenced in this 
city, and the interior of their Miinster seems to us more beau- 
tiful than any other we have seen in Europe. 

We hope we have done justice to their good works, and that 
they will so model their manners after Christian and human- 
itarian principles, as to do justice to themselves I 




d ^i 



n 



CHAPTER XYI. 

ST. GALL. 

MONET-MAKING— VICES OF MATERIAL LIFE — EMBROIDERIES — SWISS 
MUSLINS — CHERRY WATER— CITY LIFE. 

By way of reproach, St. Gall is called the Yankee Canton of 
Switzerland,* because they are a money-making people, and 
care too much for the things of this world. They have the 
vices of ambition, industry, perseverance, and love of the 
luxuries and comforts of life, rather than idleness, poverty, and 
destitution. A distinguished German philosopher says, " The 
vices engendered by material life are not so many or so gross as 
those of dreamy idleness, and not so many die of melancholy 
and madness in manufacturing towns and great cities, as in the 
country ; those who spend their time in solitude and dreams, are 



* We are here reminded of a curious incident, related to us by Mr. Mason, the American 
Minister at Paris. In an oQicial interview with the Persian Ambassador, he noticed that 
in speaking of Americans he called them always YangJie and the new world Yanghe. 
donia. Yangee was the term applied to the first English by the North American 
Indians, as our readers well know, and afterwards changed by the British soldiers in the 
time of the Revolution to Yankee, and made a term of reproach to America. We leave 
to philologists to philosophise upon the resemblances between Indian and Persian 
tongues. 
244 



8T. GALL. 24:5 

more likely to be corrupt than those who enjoy merry company 
and the activity of thickly populated places." * 

Our observation has led us to the conclusion, that calculating 
to make money, has not so bad an influence on the character, as 
calculating to save it ; and those who study and contrive so 
assiduously to save a few kreutzers might be better employed in 
making a few francs. 

The north of Switzerland is infested with beggars, but a Ger- 
man author f says, they are from Bavaria, and other provinces 
of Southern Germany. They come in troops to join the pilgrims 
to Einsiedeln, and afterwards wander through the land. Many 
children are born and left by the mothers at the doors of the 
people in the night, whilst they return to their poverty-stricken 
homes. Almost all the servants are from among the same peo- 
ple, and in the cantons where their labour is most needed, the 
immorality is frightful. 

Statistics will prove that the poor of Switzerland are few in 
comparison with those of all the nations which surround them. 
For every species of labour the wages are a third, and some- 
times one half more, than in Germany. J In Bavaria, and some 
other provinces of Germany, the illegitimate children are more 
than the legitimate. In Wurtemburg, the proportion is one in 
eight, while in no canton of Switzerland is it greater than one 
in sixteen, and, in some one in a hundred, and in others none at 
all I 

Who would believe, if figures did not prove it, that the ave- 
rage number of deaths in the crowded city of London is not so 
great as in the Duchy of Nassau, where there is no great city, 
and most of the people live in the country ? J 

* Man and his Physical Relations, by Dr. Oesterlen. + Ebel. % Dr. Oesterlen. 



246 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

One great reason of this is the want of proper food and 
cleanliness, and those are lacking, because the women are 
employed in unsuitable labour, and are also utterly ignorant of 
the art of cooking. The same German physician and philosopher 
whom we have quoted, says, ' ' The construction of the houses 
everywhere in Germany, with reference to ventilation and clean- 
liness, is barbarous, and it is impossible for people to live in them, 
to be wholly Christian, civilized, or healthy." 

The universal want of aqueducts, and the consequent defi- 
ciency of water for all household purposes, is another great 
cause. This is the same in Switzerland, only that the fountains 
are more plentiful, and the water, though carried on the heads 
of women, needs not to be transported quite so far. 

In England, the average quantity of water used by each 
family daily is three hundred quarts, making from thirty to forty 
to each individual, while in Germany, the average proportion in 
every family is only ten quarts I * Yet for those ten quarts 
each family pays three times as much as is paid in England for 
three hundred, if the time of the women is taken into account, 
and also the destruction of clothing and health, which must 
necessarily be immense. 

These are statistics which have been carefully gathered by a 
German and fiihlished concerning his native land, not in malice, 
but with the hope of awakening attention to the matter, instead 
of sitting down in pride and self-complacency to deny what 
everybody can see who has eyes. 

If there is no way for individuals to improve except by being 
told their faults, the same is not the less true of nations ; and would 
that some mighty whirlwind would sweep over this great conti- 

* Dr. Oesterlen : " Man and his Physical Relations." 



ST. GALL. 247 

nent, and scatter for ever the dust and cobwebs of centuries 
from their habitations, and some purifying flood wash out the 
dank and mould that cover with the gloom of ages their minds 
and hearts. 

St. Gall is one of the manufacturing cantons, but adds to her 
spinning and her weaving the embroidering of the fabrics after 
they leave the loom. The Swiss muslins we need not describe ; 
there is not a city or a village in America where they are not, 
and perhaps not a family which has not m some form a specimen 
of the beautiful tissues here produced. The value of the embroi- 
deries alone amounts to one million dollars, and the ladies of 
England and America buy it for Parisian work, as it is bought 
by the merchants of Paris, and sold by them under this name. 
No Parisian, however skillful, could produce anything more 
beautiful. 

Our attention was first attracted to them in the carriages on 
our way, when an old woman and a young girl opened their 
boxes for the display of their wares. They had been on a tour 
to sell..the products of their labour, and had not parted with all. 
Some gentlemen thought it a nice opportunity to secure a pretty 
gift to the ladies at home, when they should return ; but alas, 
they did not know enough of " style and fashion " to select. 
They turned them over and over, and finally appealed to us to 
tell them, if "this was the fashion," and that a ''reasonable 
price f and another inquired if the one he held up would be sure 
to please his wife ? We would answer the one about as well as 
the other, the modes not being our province of inquiry ; but we 
did the best we could, and hesitated not to say that a neat little 
collar would become the good Prau, and that no doubt it would 
be considered entirely comme il faut in the little village where they 
lived on the Caspian Sea. 



248 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

When the gentlemen were satisfied, we talked with the owners 
of the pretty things, and learned they had a stickstuhe — an 
embroidery room — in Appenzell, where they employed twenty- 
five maidens, and paid them each twenty sous a day besides 
their board. The muslin was purchased in St. Gall, and ftir- 
nished to each person, who embroidered it, and, when finished, 
it was bleached, and the greater proportion carried to St. Gall 
again to sell. "We thanked them for their information, and 
promised, when in Appenzell, to call and see them in the midst 
of their maidens, which we afterwards did. 

From our window in the old city we looked out upon the 
market-place and a fountain. If the aqueducts should be con- 
structed, they would certainly spoil very much of our travelling 
pleasure, for not less in Switzerland than in Germany are the 
fountains never-ending sources of amusement, as they are the 
universal rendezvous for gossip and the discussion of village 
affairs. 

Here the horses came to be watered and washed, the children 
to drink, the servants to fill their tubs ; and though there are 
four large spouts to the great pump stock, they are not able to 
supply the demand. The receiving vessel is a great octagon- 
formed basin, and little tubes conduct from the spout to the 
edge of the basin, which are only used when clean water is 
wanted. At other times they are pushed on one side, and the 
stream falls into the trough. But often they forget to remove 
them, and soon there is a river pouring over street and pave- 
ment, and the next comer scolds merrily that she cannot get 
near without wetting herself from top to toe. The vessels iu 
which they transport the. water on their heads, are copper 
kettles, with a rim round the bottom, and from six to ten in the 
evening of one day, we watched the process of making these and 



ST. GALL. 249 

others bright as muTors, all being done at the ''Brunnen," and 
then splashed m the water. 

On the evening before market, the bushels of potatoes and 
bags of meal begin to assemble, and arrange themselves in rows 
on the square ; and in the morning, long before we are there, 
the beets, cabbages, and " other vegetables," have paraded 
themselves with due formality near. Then come horses and 
cows, and pigs and goats, bleating and baaing their aversion to 
being made the objects of barter and gain ; while old women 
with cheese, and young women with knick-knacks, erect little 
tents and booths for exhibiting their stores ; and baskets of 
berries, and balls of butter, peep temptingly out from the green 
leaves, which keep them cool and clean. The markets are all 
alike, not furnishing variety enough to give material for des- 
cription. 

But the days when the damsels come with their embroideries, 
and the merchants meet them to pay their wages, and measure 
to them new pieces, offer a novel scene. Not only from Switzer- 
land, but from Bavaria and Baden, from Alsatia, Wurtemberg, 
and Tyrol, they anive with their Httle boxes, containing the 
beautiful fabric over which their fingers have ached and their 
eyes wearied — which please to remember, fair reader, when you 
beat down the price of some fine handkerchief or " set of collar 
and sleeves." They get a much better reward for their labours 
than the lace-makers of Saxony ; but we asked one young girl 
how long it would take her to embroider the handkerchief she 
had begun, and she said, a quarter of a year — three months day 
and evening, all the time she could see to work ! 

In Appenzell, the little canton lying entirely within the limits 
of St. Gall, still more are employed in this species of labour, and 
in the two cantons together, seven thousand persons, who 

11* 



250 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

finish from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand 
pieces every year, and earn nearly four hundred thousand 
dollars. 

In all the different processes of spinning, weaving, bleaching, 
etc., fifty thousand persons are employed the whole or a part of 
the year, whose united wages amount to one million five hundred 
thousand dollars, and the average wages of each are fifty dollars. 
They include many aged and children, who perform light labour, 
and work but a small portion of the time. 

"We had never thought of inquiring how webs of muslin were 
bleached, till we saw them stretched by means of wooden pins 
and stakes in long rows in the sun. They are too delicate to lie 
on the grass, and stand slanting wise, two or three feet from the 
ground. They are, of course, yellow, like any other cotton, 
when they leave the mill or loom, and when perfectly white, 
must be starched, ironed, and pressed. 

When factories were first established in St. Gall, nine bleach- 
ing houses, several for pressing, ironing and packing were built 
by Government, and laws made to prevent all fraud. 

let. — That all webs before being laid to bleach be examined 
by a committee, and when unfit for use, should be cut to pieces 
and burnt. 

2d. — To see that every piece has one hundred and thirty-four 
ells. 

3d. — That whilst bleaching, it should be watched by men 
sworn to fidelity. 

4th. — That all webs after being bleached, should be examined 
with the same exactness. 

5th. — All webs which are to be coloured should be subject 
to the same examination. 

6th. — A fraud in any department should be severely punished. 



ST. GALL. 251 

Pieces of muslin, richly embroidered with gold and silver, sell 
for between two and three hundred dollars. 

Through all the cantons St. Gall and Appenzell, one sees the 
wheels turning, and hears the looms thumping from almost 
every house in some villages, especially in the northern part. 
The weaving room is usually on the ground-floor, to which they 
descend from above by a trap-door. They say, the muslin is 
not so good unless woven in the cellar, and to increase its 
beauty, or the facihty for weaving, they wet the threads with 
meal and water. 

For the finest muslins a half-ounce of cotton spins a thread 
from sixteen to twenty thousand feet long, but the ordinary 
length from the same quantity is only from nine to ten thou- 
sand. 

Those who weave at home, own their looms and buy their 
cotton. When the webs are finished, they are given to a col- 
lector, who goes from house to house to receive them, and carry 
them to St. Gall. If necessity does not compel them to sell 
immediately, they keep the pieces till there are several, and dis- 
pose of them to better advantage. 

The mushn which is embroidered in other states is returned 
unbleached and almost black ; but that which is embroidered 
with gold and silver cannot be washed, and is therefore all done 
in Switzerland under their own eyes. 

In Zurich and St. Gall both silks and crapes are made, which 
merchants sell for India goods. 

The first attempt at weaving muslin was in It 53 ; but St. 
Gall was famous for its cloths in the thirteenth century, which 
were known as Constance Cloths, many having emigrated thither 
from Constance in 1414 at the time of the session of the council, 
and given great activity to industry. In 1190, forty thousand 



252 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

persons were already employed in embroidering ; and agents 
were sent into other countries to establish factories. In 1*134 
appeared the first loom set in motion by water, and in 1*140 the 
first calicoes and handkerchiefs were printed. The revolution 
of It 98 destroyed all monopolies ; and English markets being 
closed, a great impetus was given to industry in Switzerland, 
and they held their first exposition, a Crystal Palace on a small 
scale, in 1813, which was successful as an experiment. 

In the southern part of the canton agriculture flourishes, and 
in the Rhine valley we see here and there large patches of 
Indian corn which the Indians might be willing to own ; and in 
the alpine pastures are some sixty thousand cattle, goats, and 
sheep. 

Everywhere in the northern cantons fruit-trees are standing 
like forests ; and there is not only a brandy distillery in almost 
every commune, but also a cider mill. Pears are pressed for 
their juice, and cherries crushed to make what they call cherry 
water. 

We one day saw a decanter upon a table filled with what we 
supposed to be water, as it was colourless, and we had never 
seen any stronger liquid without some slight tinge of yellow, 
red, or purple. Being thirsty, we thought to help ourselves, 
and took a generous draught, which in an instant had pervaded 
every drop of blood in our veins. It was cherry water, but it 
surely deserves a more significant appellation. 

It is made by crushing fresh cherries and pounding them, as 
the juice is expressed from grapes. They are then kept slightly 
warm till fermentation takes place, which sometimes happens 
the second, and often not till the fourth week. The tub remains 
covered, and the pulp is stirred every two days. It can then 
remain a long time without injury, or be immediately distilled 



ST. GALL. 253 

like brandy. So long as it runs clear, it is of the right taste 
and consistency, but when the liquid is thick, it is put back with 
the pulp in the still. To prevent its taking fire before it begins 
to boil, it is stirred violently. Like good wine, it improves 
with age. An imitation is sometimes made of plums, but can 
easily be detected by mixing it with a few drops of water, when 
it looks murky, and, if rubbed upon the hands, has a different 
flavour. 

In all Switzerland are from fifteen to twenty millions of 
quarters of fruit, making eight quarters to each person, and 
more than in any other country. It is the staple article of 
food among the peasantry, cooked in various ways, dried and 
preserved as well as distilled. 

St. Gall has a majority of Catholics, but Protestants are also 
numerous, and they live very harmoniously together, — the two 
sects in a village often occupying the same church, the one in 
the morning and the other in the afternoon. The old abbey, 
founded in the seventh century, was long the ruling power, and 
the cause of continual wars and dissensions till it was finally 
suppressed by the Government in 1805.* It was the seat of 
learning in the olden time ; and the sons of kings and emperors 
from all parts of Europe came to be educated by its wise monks. 
They not only preserved the writings of others, but wrote them- 
selves what have proved the most valuable chronicles concerning 
the middle ages, and also the ancient ballad-poetry of Germany, 
which a Swiss peasant can read now, while to the most learned 
German philosopher they are an unknown tongue. The Ger- 



* We may conclude, however, that superstition is not quite extinct in this commer- 
cial community, when we read that on last Three Kings day, some boys made quite 
a speculation by wheeling about on a hand-cart a hogshead oiholy water, which they 
sold from house to house to those who believed in its efficacy. 



254 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

man of Germany became so Latinized that very little of the 
original language remained, while in Switzerland it retained 
more of its original simplicity, and for this reason is still more 
like the Saxon. 

The city looks very city-like, the houses standing thickly, and 
every place open to the sun and air is filled with the bleacliing 
webs. There are many quaint features, yet over all a modem 
air, and also an appearance of equality among the people, very 
pleasant to observe in a manufacturing town. Toil does not 
depress the lower classes, and anxiety does not mark the counte- 
nances of those who calculate and grow rich. 

It is strange to see the little cantons of Switzerland defying 
all the powers of the Yatican, and subjecting her priesthood to 
the law, and obhging monks and cloisters to give up their pos- 
sessions, unless they will make a proper use of them ; while in 
Austria, even the Emperor himself fears the mere shadow to 
which the See of Rome is reduced, and the most senseless mum- 
meries of the dark ages are still practised as the means of salva- 
tion by the Imperial court and people. 

In Rome there is a church to every hundred people, and a new 
one erected almost every year, and the want, misery, ignorance, 
and degradation are beyond what any human pen can describe. 
In ancient Rome there were fifty public baths where now there 
is not one ; and in all Italy there is the same destitution of 
everything which modern civilization demands for the physical, 
moral, and mental health of the people. The King of Naples 
died last year of a disease which had no other cause than the 
filth by which he was surrounded, and thousands are dying in 
Italy of the same. Whilst it is confined to the poor, they heed 
it not; but palaces become at length infected, or rather infested, 
and then they begin to ask what can be done to avert it ? If 



ST. GAiL. 255 

half the money which has been spent on palaces and churches 
had been devoted to aqueducts and other means of cleanliness, 
thrones and steeples would not now be tottering as they are to 
their foundations, and dukes and princes fleeing everywhere for 
life. To people who are never troubled with human sympathy, 
these will be very revolting statements, and those who travel 
only to admire architecture and fine paintings, will think it un- 
pardonable to expose what is beneath. But it is becoming 
impossible for the most sentimental travellers to spend even a 
day in any city in Italy for any purpose whatever, for these rea- 
sons and others which it is impossible to expose. 

We read with horror of those who fall by the sword, and all 
the terrors of the battle-field, but the horrors of hospitals are 
far greater. 

Among soldiers in time of peace, full six per cent, are on the 
sick list, and among from three to four hundred thousand men, 
one hundred thousand are disabled by illness. While among other 
classes of men only one in ninety or a hundred die on an average, 
among military men in barracks forty or fifty die out of the 
same period of fife I In the Crimean war the French lost eighty 
thousand men, but one-fifth died in consequence of bad food and 
unhealthy arrangements. 

We have heard Americans in Europe deplore that they had 
not a more stable government 1 and people who travel in 
Switzerland, and happen to see a cantonal election, go away 
to say there is nothing but anarchy and confusion, and those who 
rule are ignorant boors and noisy democrats. 

The governments of continental Europe have not shown them, 
selves very stable during the last year. While every empire, 
dukedom, and principality has felt as being shattered by an 
earthquake, not a nerve of Smtzerland has trembled. There 



256 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

has not been a single fear of insurrection or revolt from her 
populace. 

The quiet of despotic governments is numbness and stupidity, 
instead of obedience and content ; but they are not only stupid, 
indolent, and depressed, but immoral, wicked, poor, and sickly. 
The clamour and flourish of trumpets at a Swiss or American 
election are only safety valves, and the surest preservations of 
permanent order. When they have spoken and clamoured, the 
effervescence is departed, and any sort of a whirlpool is better 
than a stagnant marsh. 




CHAPTER XYII. 



APPENZELL. 



SPIRIT OF LIBERTY — MURDER BY A YOUNG GIRL — STICKSTUBE COSTUME— 

ALPS— AMUSEMENTS. 



We have elsewhere sufficiently illustrated the heroic deeds of 
" the men of Appenzell." *' We are a free people," has been 
their boast for four hundred years. They laid down their shep- 
herd's staff to take up arms, and when their warrior work was 
finished they took again the simple crook and sang their songs 
as gaily as if no wilder strain had broken in upon their melody. 
All that they knew or understood of freedom, they demanded 
and secured. When they were enjoined not to eat milk in Lent , 
it being animal food, they said they saw no sense or reason in 
such an injunction, and ate milk all the same. The Pope, as 
usual, knowing that it was better they should do it with his per- 
mission than without, granted it to them in 1459, jproprio motu. 
A few years later, in 1489, the Landamman obtained the con- 
sent of " His Holiness " to marry his god-daughter, by passing 
a stipulated sum for dispensation. The people then decided in 
council, that what was no longer a sin for the Landamman to 
purchase, should be granted to a simple citizen free ; and so in 

257 



258 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

future they married without consulting the Pope or Church, 
and nobody undertook to compel them to change their 
decrees. 

In 1525, Capuchins were sent among them to counteract the 
influence of the reformers, but they brought so much discord 
with them, that Catholics and Protestants both wished they had 
stayed away. 

Those who first came were Peter Ludwig and his friend Jacob. 
A boy met them in the forest, and their dress was so strange 
that he thought they were not men, and cried for help. They 
said to him, " We are holy fathers, and do no man any harm." 
He fell on his knees and cried, "Oh, holy devils, I pray you, 
touch me not.'^ 

But the two religions were the means of dividing them into two 
parts, though in the whole canton there were not twenty square 
leagues. Appenzell is entirely enclosed in the canton St, Gall, 
looking as if it were fastened by a button to the banks of the 
river. It must be distinguished, not only by the name Appen- 
zell, but the two divisions as " outer " and " inner Rhoden," the 
word Rhode meaning district. They were threatened with civil 
war on account of the dissensions concerning religious tenents, 
when some, more wise and prudent than the rest, suggested 
that it was better to divide the land. So, like the patriarchs of 
old, they said, *' You go to the east, and I will go to the west ; 
and there will be no more strife between your herdsmen and my 
herdsmen." So it was agreed. They met in council on the 1st 
of August, 159*1, and arranged the separation so quickly and 
peaceably, that on the 28th they held the election in Outer 
Rhoden, which was the one set apart. They were to remain 
divided so long as it was agreeable to both parties. Each 
Rhode chooses its own • Landamman and other oflBcers ; yet, 



APPENZELL. 259 

there is also a common council, in which delegates from both 
meet for the administration of common affairs. 

The council-house is an old building with time-stained walls, 
and the statute-books and instruments of punishment are not less 
ancient. By the side of the door is a bench, on which cruninals 
are still stretched, and over it an iron collar, which is the yoke 
still worn by stiffnecked offenders. 

On the walls of the council chamber are painted the heroic 
battles of the early period of their history. Underneath is the 
bastinado, which is also still retained among their means of pun- 
ishmg the guilty. The person to whom it is appUed must lie 
upon his face, with the arms stretched as for swimming, and 
when bound hand and foot, the " raw hide " begins its work. 
The little cages, like those of a meuagerie, are also here, placed 
immediately under the roof, with a narrow opening, through 
which air and food in very small quantities are admitted. It is 
not possible to stand upright in them, or to he at full length. 
When it was remarked to the cicerone, " They must soon be 
brought to confession here," she said, " Yes, in winter f for no 
warmth can come to them the coldest winter day. Yet no one 
is kept there after confessing his guilt ; but one might be 
tempted to confess to a crime he never committed in order to 
get out. 

We have heard of an instance of endurance, in one of those 
cages, which j&nally revealed a sad story of crime, and shows the 
power of fashion among the simplest people, and that diamonds 
and rubies are not the only tempters of the frail and fair. 

It is only ten years ago, that two young girls were retuniing 
from a festival in the city to their homes, to reach which they 
must pass a lonely meadow. They had been friends from child- 
hood, and nothing had disturbed the pleasant relationship which 



260 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

bound them together. The one was beautiful, but she was poor 
and it is a proverb in Appenzell, " that every maiden to win a 
lover early must have a silver chain." Her beauty, and perhaps 
her worth, had already won a lover, but still she was not con- 
tent. Her companion was every way better dressed than her- 
self, and had also a silver chain, which she coveted. Suddenly 
pretending to discover that she had lost her paternoster, and 
would return to find it, they both hastened back to a pool which 
they had passed, and while both were stooping to search eagerly, 
Anna Maria quickly seized her unsuspicious friend, tore the 
chain from her neck, and pushed her into the water, where she 
was drowned. 

The corpse was found the same day, and when it was prepared 
for burial, Anna Maria stood with others around the bier a 
mourner, and joined in the prayers I But soon the chain at- 
tracted suspicion, and as one sin prepares the way for another, 
she said, " her lover had given it to her." That a man might 
have committed the murder did not seem improbable, and for 
such a reason ; but that a girl nineteen years of age should 
have been guilty of so horrible a deed did not seem possible to 
any human mind. 

The lover was arrested, and experienced the tortm'es of the 
bastinado without confessing the deed, and was then confined 
in the most dismal of the cages, where he submitted patiently to 
the ordeal, but remained silent. 

Anna Maria was free, and came often to Appenzell, always 
going to the prison to inquire for her lover. One evening some 
of her young companions returned with her home, but she spoke 
not all the way till they reached the place of the murder, when 
she stopped, and turning pale exclaimed, " See there !" They 
looked, but saw nothing. This again excited suspicion ; but 



APPENZELL. 261 

Others thought it natural that she should be troubled and see 
ghosts, though not herself guilty. 

The woman who had charge of the prison felt more than sus- 
picion from her manner when she called to inquire, and one day- 
said to her bluntly, '' You committed the murder yourself" She 
was white as marble, and trembled like the aspen. On being 
closely questioned afterwards, she confessed, and gave herself up 
for trial. 

No long process was necessary to establish her guilt, and ac- 
cording to the lav/ of the land she was condemned to death. 
When this was communicated to her by the clergyman she re- 
fused to listen, and said, "I will not die." How httle she had 
thought of death when depriving another of life ! Her father 
and sister prayed for mercy, but ninety voices had confirmed the 
sentence, and only six were heard in favour of pardon. There 
was no more hope ; she must die. 

When they came to lead her before the judge, she threw her- 
self upon the ground, and screeching and screaming repeated, 
" I will not die, I will not die 1" Four men dragged her to the 
council chamber, and when the sentence was read, her cries 
drowned the voice of the speaker. The pastor came to her, but 
she cast him off, and they were obliged to bind her on a sled to 
take her to the place of execution. When there, she kicked and 
strove, and bent her head to her breast, to avoid the fatal 
stroke, so that they despaired of bringing her head to the block, 
and sent to the council, yet in session, to know what they should 
do. The answer was, " that they must finish the work." The 
short respite had encouraged her to hope, and when she heard 
the words of the messenger, her screams became more frightful 
than before, declaring she would not die. 

At length a grey-headed man suggested that they tie her long 



262 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

hair to a stake, which they succeeded in doing, and the death- 
blow fell. ^' It was finished," indeed. 

A few years ago, a young girl was condemned for child mur- 
der, and the nuns of the Franciscan convent begged permission 
to receive her, and lead her in the way of repentance and truth, 
instead of putting her to death, and it was finally decided to 
grant their prayer, which we cannot help thinking was " the 
better way." 

If a young girl accuses a young man of being the father of 
her child, he is put in one cage, to produce confession, and she 
in another, to compel her to tell the truth. If he insists that 
her statement is false, the oath is administered to her, and if it 
is proved that she has slandered him, he takes the oath of puri- 
fication, and is restored to citizenship and respectability. If her 
words are proved, he can sign a paper promising to marry her, 
and is free. 

Appenzell is the only canton where the Kiltgang is not the 
custom, and the guilty man is here more thoroughly abused 
than in Glarus. He cannot even vote at election, or rather, 
would not dare appear there, as the hissing and scorn would be 
unendurable. The maiden must wear a cap, and cannot put the 
silver pin in her hair. 

In the olden time, "the men of Appenzell" were a rude and 
quarrelsome people. A game at fisticuffs, authorized by law, 
was an every day amusement, and death often the consequence. 
Men wore schlagrings on their httle fingers, and no one dared 
go alone from village to village. Till within half a century the 
law existed, that he who killed another in this way, " could not 
drink wine nor cider nor take part in public festival." 

He who committed intentional murder could be pardoned 
with consent of the relatives ; but must never meet them in any 



APPENZELL. 263 

public place, or pass any road where they were iu the habit of 
going. He must take the murderous weapon in one hand, and 
a candle in the other, and go to church in funeral procession, 
kneel there and at the grave, and pray three times to God for 
[•ardon. He must furnish two hundred candles for mass-service, 
and set a cross where the relations wished, and pay them a sum 
of money prescribed by law, and sit always apart in church. 

The election ceremonies are nearly the same as in Glarus, and 
the cantonal colours black and white. The salary of the Land- 
amman in Outer Rhoden is forty dollars, and of the Mayor six. 

When we passed the house of the Landamman, a young gu'l 
in the diligence pointed to it with great reverence and pride. It 
was a large wooden domicile, looking just then very nice and 
new, with bright shingles and clapboards. Opposite was a 
large orchard and a pretty summer-house of pink stucco outside, 
and white painted window frames, all looking as if some new 
fortune had come to the possessor, and he was enlarging his 
borders accordingly, yet without ostentation or display. 

The houses stand dotted about on the hill-sides and green- 
swards, having often, upon the old ones, the date of their erec- 
tion, figures made with the shingles on the roof, and various 
ornaments, verses from the Bible, pauatings, sentimental phrases, 
and gilded points and crosses. But the new ones are plain and 
comfortable. Kowhere, perhaps, is neatness more truly the 
characteristic of the people than in Appenzell. 

We did not forget to visit the stickstuhe of the woman we met 
on the railway, and found her in the midst of her maidens, some 
twenty-five, seated round the room, with their frames fastened 
to a light three-legged stand of convenient height, which they 
carry about with them as easily as a parasol or roll of embroi- 
dery. The muslin is pulled tight over one frame, and fastened 



264 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

by a loop shutting on to the other, which we have often seen 
used, but without the stand. Oh ! the beautiful flowers, figures, 
animals, landscapes, everything that artist can invent, which 
appear at the command of their fingers ! Why, are they not 
as truly evidences of genius as those which are made by a brush 
on canvas ? I^ever did we see anything more wonderful than 
the designs which were furnished them, and the skill is not less 
marvellous which perfects them — so graceful, delicate and true.* 
All the day, all the evening, all the year, they bend over the 
little frame ; but we should think it would not take years to 
make them blind. 

The woman, as we stated, gives each twenty sous a day and 
board, and finds the muslin. She, of course, has all the risk 
and trouble of selling. But there was no air of poverty about 
them, and they looked very cheerful and in good health. Be- 
sides these, many daughters work at home, and at almost every 
window we see them, and also in the gardens, under the trees, 
or in the street, always with the frames in their hands. 

In Outer Rhoden there are twelve thousand persons engaged 
in the different departments of the manufacture of muslins and 
embroideries. The bright coloured papers which are laid under 
the corners of the handkerchiefs, and beneath the collars and 
sleeves, to exhibit the pattern, are also manufactured here ; and 
in the Hotel Hechtj the ancient costume, in all its details, is 
exhibited by a woman, who evidently wears it for this purpose. 
The skirt is purple woollen stuff, looking as if it had been quilled, 
the little plaits commencing at the waist and reaching to the 
hem, without losing their form. The bodice, bright scarlet 
silk, pointed before and behind, shows a white muslin chemisette 

* It is true that many artists are employed in furnishing the designs for this work, 
who would otherwise, perhaps, be employed with the easel. 



APPENZELL. 265 

under the arms and over the bosom. The sleeves are short and 
full, and above the elbow are broad hair bracelets with silver 
clasps. Around the bodice is also a border of silver ; and the 
silver chain, coveted by all maidens, is upon her neck, and con- 
sists of many fine strings, making more than an inch in breadth ; 
one of the same kind passes under the arm, linking the points 
of the embroidered collar. Her cap is also of bright scarlet 
like the bodice, trimmed with various ornaments in lace and 
silver. One ^\'ould think from the description, that it must look 
finical, but it is remarkably neat and pretty, and on a young 
pretty maiden must be charming. She who wears it has evi- 
dently been "handsome in her day," but is now stricken in 
years, and very pale. But she understands well the duties of 
her vocation. She has a word to say to everybody, and pre- 
sents herself upon all occasions, with a sort of theatrical manner, 
which seems to say, "Do you observe ?" and it is certainly 
worth while to take one dinner at her table, to be served by so 
gracious a hostess, and observe both her air and costume. 

In the embroidery rooms, also, they retain some peculiarities, 
a sort of uniform ; but the people one meets in the streets daily 
are in the fashion now universal. A traveller, who wrote more 
than half a century ago, says at that time the men wore hosen, 
which left a wide space between the top and the vest ; and when 
he entered the hotel, where many people were assembled on 
election day, dressed in the modern style, he saw all the people 
looking at him and laughing. Fearing something was wrong in 
his attire, which he could not see, he asked what excited them 
to such mirth, and they said ; " Oh, it was too funny ; such a 
costume !" Small clothes are sometimes still seen in the coun- 
try — a red vest and leathern girdle, long stockings, and shoes 
with silver buckles. 

12 



266 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

In different years, from the middle of the sixteenth to the 
nineteenth century, we find various laws concerning dress, 
endeavouring to restrain extravagance. But custom is stronger 
than law, and all enactments which infringe upon personal 
liberty were constantly evaded. 

Servants were scarcely known in famihes till 1830, but when 
embroidery became so common, servants were necessary, as the 
daughters could not perform the labours of the household and 
those of the needle too. 

As everywhere else in Switzerland, the menials are from 
Suabia ; but they are generally treated like those of the family, 
and have the same Hfe. Their wages are very small, being only 
as much for a week as the embroiderers receive for a day. 

Appenzell is a miniature Switzerland in itself. The prairies 
are very few, and the mountains among the grandest of the 
snowy Alps. The whole of Inner Rhoden is covered with shep- 
herds and their herds ; and the hum of industry in the canton 
has in no wise drowned the wild melody of the mountaineer. 
Here one may listen to the Ranz des Vackes in its primitive 
pathos ; and the wild ragiisa is hummed with no diminution of 
its power by the maidens of the valley. 

The dance has been long forbidden in Oatcr Rhoden, except 
at the four principal festivals of the year ; and it is on these 
occasions that the young people meet, and wooers have an 
opportunity to sing then? loves. When they are betrothed, the 
young man and maiden can walk together any time in the day 
before evening, not arm in arm, but with the little fingers locked 
together ; and each young maiden has some notes of a ragusa, 
which she sings when she is abroad, that her lover instantly re- 
cognizes as a signal to join her, if he is at leisure. 

All gambling is also forbidden, and money won at play is not 



APPENZELL. 267 

allowed to be retained. No person is allowed to invest money 
in lotteries at home or abroad, and no journal is allowed to 
advertise a lottery. 

No innkeeper can permit a dance in his house of young per- 
sons unless their parents are present. For all those offences a 
fine is the penalty ; but to avoid them, people go over the 
borders, a distance which is not very far, and dance and play, 
perhaps with more injurious consequences. Suicide, madness, 
and melancholy, are more common than among the Inner 
Khodens, who are much poorer, and live not half so well. The 
ceremonies of the Protestant Church are not interesting except 
to those whose hearts are concerned ; and when so many 
restraints are imposed, without a culture that elevates the mind 
and soul above self-indulgences, the effects are evil, and not good. 

Among the Catholics, a little money purchases the pardon of 
all their sins, and evidently satisfies their consciences, whether it 
should or not, and they dance all care away. It is a subject 
worthy of theologian and philosopher, and should have a good 
deal more consideration from Christians than they have ever 
given it. 

We often hear such reproaches against the peasantry both in 
Switzerland and Germany from those who will live side by side 
with them year after year without one effort to understand them 
or improve their condition. This never struck us more forcibly 
than one evening when we went to a peasant's dance, and, after 
leaving them, entered the saloon of a patrician, who made the 
greatest professions to being a Christian and a friend of liberty. 
He sat in his elegant room, leaned back among the velvet 
cushions of his fautenil, and exclanned : "How disgusting — 
how dreadfully disgusting — those peasant dances, their noise, 
..heir beer-drinking, and their unseemly deportment!" His cellar 



268 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

was filled with the choicest of wines, and his wife dressed in silks, 
and velvets, and jewellery, to the amount of many thousand dol- 
lars. They could afford it, and there was no reason why they 
should not indulge in all the luxuries civilization has invented. 
Kot long before, they had given a ball, for which they rented a 
hotel, invited several hundred people, and gave an entertainment 
that in all must have cost considerably more than five hundred 
dollars. A lady informed us how the peasant girls ** tried to 
get married." In the society in which she moves did she never 
see any shnilar efforts ? I think it was the same lady who told 
us that among the higher classes, when daughters became of a 
marriageable age, their mothers had already engaged a husband 
for them ; and we have heard of intrigues among young ladies 
themselves such as would not have disgraced the court of 
Francis I. and Louis XI Y., for this same purpose of "getting 
married," which is so shocking among peasant girls. If, instead 
of spending five hundred dollars for a ball — which does not 
occur on Sunday, to be sure, but furnishes work and conversa- 
tion for many holy Sabbaths — one hundred had been devoted 
to a pleasant and proper festival for the poor, where their man- 
ners would be improved and their character softened, would it 
not have been a more Christian way of treating them than to call 
them heathen, and let them alone ? In how many ways could 
five hundred dollars benefit a peasant village, if a man really 
wished to perform a Christian duty, and to work as well as pray 
in the vineyard of the Lord ! We do not wish to condemn 
giving balls to lords and nobles, though we think there is a bet- 
ter way even for them ; but we doubt whether those who meet 
in cottages to dance and sing arc more reprehensible characters 
than those who meet in castles. 

It is the most imcomprehensible of all things, if the Bible was 



APPENZELL. 269 

given for a guide to man, that people can read it a lifetime and 
never get one idea of Christian love and duty as exemplified on 
its pages. They read the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and scorn the 
person who follows the most nearly his example. They profess 
to have no other enjoyment than "rehgious exercises," and ex- 
hibit not the fruits of patience, long-suffering, and kindness, but 
envy, hatred, malice and evil-speaking. 

The peasantry are forbidden to dance, and called low and 
vulgar, and beyond the reach of elevation, because they still 
delight in so many amusements. But can anybody say what 
they shall do in the hours they have been accustomed to devote 
to play ? They are now all taught to read, but of what use is it 
so long as there is nothing within their means upon which to 
practise the art ? Five hundred dollars, or so, would furnish one 
village with a library within their comprehension, which spent in 
feasting lords and ladies is worse than wasted. 

The law in the United States of America that provides for 
every school a library, is doing infinitely more good than the 
one which provides a school. Interesting books excite the 
ambition to learn to read them, and do away with all necessity 
for making laws against dancing. What a new world would it 
create for the lonely shepherd in his cot on the mountain, to fill 
it with pleasant stories that give him food for thought, and 
awake in bun nobler aspirations. There are those who think it 
is better to let him alone to his songs, and his dreams, and his 
rovings. Alas, how little they know of the shepherd or of hu- 
manity who come to this conclusion : and why is it that Mission 
and Bible Societies so readily spend their money for the heathen 
of other lands, while thousands are in the darkest ignorance and 
Euperstition around them, to whom they will not speak even a 
word of Christian kindness ? 



270 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The schools in Appenzell have been increased and improved 
within the last thirty years, so that they exist in every commune 
in Outer Rhoden, and the number of scholars has doubled. A 
high school has been endowed by private citizens at Trogen, and 
another at Heiden ; and there are, besides, secondary schools 
for the upper classes supported by the State. In the Catholic 
portion of the canton there are not so many, and the law does 
not require the parents to send the children unless they choose. 
There are two convents where girls are instructed by the nuns, 
who have the reputation of being good and benevolent, as they 
have also in many other places in Switzerland. 

The amusements are very many among those of both religions. 
So early as 1646, a law was made, that all should sing in 
church ; and that those who sang in inns, and at plays, and not 
in church, should pay a fine of twenty-five dollars. They were 
also required to sing in schools, and the clergyman named from 
the pulpit on Sunday what psalms should be practised during 
the week, 

A society of mutual improvement was founded in 1832, a 
slight admission fee providing lectures on agriculture, art, etc. 

But the shooting fetes are better attended, and date from a 
period unknown. From the year 1*180 to 1808, they spent in 
prizes and various fetes five thousand dollars. But fewer men 
have gone into foreign service from Appenzell than from any 
other canton. 

The first reading-room was opened in It 25, and they are now 
very general ; but the variety of journals and books is not very 
extensive. In some villages, museums are connected with them, 
and natural history illustrated. 

The weddings of the olden time were very sumptuous affairs. 
We read of one which took place in 1651, when the bridal train 



APPENZELL. 271 

consisted of thirty horses, and ninety-six guests were present ; 
the whole costing about thirty dollars ! and one in 1654, at 
which were fifty pairs and two hundred and sixty-two guests ; 
and one in 1685, where were four hundred and thirty-three 
guests. Then the law interfered, and ordained that no bride 
should invite more than eighty persons, or have more than eight 
bridesmaids. 

Now the law says nothing about it, and the custom is pre- 
vailing more and more to have the ceremony performed in a 
quiet manner, and take a journey or make a visit. Wreaths 
and flowers are still worn, and the bridesmaid sews a bouquet to 
the left side of the skirt of the bride, which costs her nearly a 
dollar. 

Those who wish to marry must obtain the consent of the 
Landamman. 

Baptism is performed in church, and the baby is arrayed in 
all the fine swaddling-clothes it can carry. The ceremony is 
seldom put off more than three days, as they fear it will die 
unbaptized ; and many do not allow the infant to He upon the 
mother's bosom till it has been thus purified. The godfather 
stands on one side of the font and the godmother upon the 
other. They exchange bows, when the godfather hands the 
child to the pastor, on a cushion, who holds it over the water, 
which is always warm, and wets its brow three times, ''in the 
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 

Among the superstit^'ous, they rejoice when an infant dies, 
and say, " Now we have an angel in heaven." Often they send 
for a priest to say mass, instead of the doctor to cure the sick one. 

The election is the great national /e^e, to which all come, men, 
women, and children ; and the military review and kirchwdh are 
almost as widely celebrated. 



272 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

A peculiar custom in Outer Ilhoden, on the 17th of February, 
is to mount the trunk of a tree upon a wagon ornamented with 
flowers and garlands. An old man and woman, clothed in the 
ancient Swiss costume, and carrying little bells, precede the 
cortege, walking in the gravest manner. The king of the day is 
seated upon the tree, and makes gracious salutations to the 
multitude, while the whole pass through the length of the street 
and back again, when they end the festival at an inn. 

At carnival, the fires are kindled on all the hills, and Christ- 
mas is celebrated with great parade. 

There are several bathing establishments for strangers, and at 
Heinrichshad, one of the largest in Switzerland, are elegant 
salons, reading-rooms, and dancing-halls, surrounded by a beau- 
tiful country, affording delightful promenades. 

When we left the pleasant land of Appenzell, it was to go 
southward, by the railroad to Chur ; but in order to reach the 
station we were obliged to take a post-chaise to Alstacten. 
Seeing the horse nearly harnessed that was to take us, we went 
out and stood by the carriage. Just then a neighbour appeared, 
to ask the owner of the vehicle if his daughter could not ride to 
Alstacten in the same carriage with the lady, as she wished to 
visit her aunt. There was much talk and hesitation before we 
understood the cause, but finally the father appealed to us, and 
said, " Sure it will not annoy you, she is a young girl, and there 
is plenty of room ?" We answered most heartily, *' Indeed we 
had much rather she would go than not ; to have some one to 
talk with is far pleasanter than to sit silent." He ran immedi- 
ately to call her, and she soon appeared, and looked so exactly 
like a cousin we left among the Green Mountains at home, that 
we could almost have called her by name. She was a coy 
maiden of sixteen, blond and pretty, dressed neatly in black, for 



APPENZELL. 273 

she had lately lost her mother. We found her a pleasant 
travelling companion indeed, blushing like a summer rose at 
every remark or question, but very intelligent concerning any- 
thing by the way. 

Our road was through the neat villages, fruitful orchards, and 
waving harvests of this prim little canton, till we came to the 
top of a hill that overlooked the valley of the Rhine. What a 
contrast is suddenly presented. The sky has become, as it 
seems, instantaneously black with clouds, the thunder rolls, and 
the lightning flashes among the dark gorges which open in the 
opposite banks, while the dense forests upon the hillsides look 
as if a fire had just imparted to them its scathing hues, without 
depriving a branch or twig of its rich clothing. We realize the 
fulness of the expression " blackness of darkness." It is strange 
and fearful beyond description. Whilst gazing upon it, we are 
slowly descending • from peak to peak, surrounded by woods 
which would present the same appearance to a distant observer, 
while the rain pours in torrents, making a road, never safe, 
perilous at every step. But our young companion has seen it a 
hundred times, and heeds it no more than a gentle shower. 
These are to them every-day scenes, the pastime of their Alpine 
skies and snowy heights. To us it has been ever like a vision 
of another world, a glimpse of something terrific beyond the 
limits of mortal vision. 

Soon the clouds were dispelled, and the sun shone out in 
splendour. On the railroad our way was beneath the bold, 
frowning cliffs, whether on the banks of the Rhine or the stormy 
Wallen See : though not so frightful in sunshine as in tempest, 
they present some of the most peculiar and grandest features of 
Swiss scenery. If we could enjoy but one, we would rather 
trace the Rhine from Constance to its source than trace any 

12* 



274 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

other portion of its way to the sea. The castle-crowned peaks 
have an interest which these wild, untenanted cliffs have not, 
but they are few in comparison, and have not that solemn 
impressing sublimity which becomes every moment more awful 
till we approach the Via Mala and the eternal snows which 
gave birth to the '' father of waters." 




CHAPTER XYIII. 



GLARUS. 



SCENE IN STREET— OLD FAMILIES — 2WINGLIUS — BROTHERHOOD— SCHABZIE- 
GER CHEESE — ALPIN ETEA — CALICO — INCIDENT ON RAILWAY — ELECTION — 
SUPERSTITIONS — OLD LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 

Not since we left New England have we heard such a hooting and 
tooting, such a horn-blowing and trumpeting, such a snapping of 
whips and singing of songs, as in this old town of Glarus. It 
is by no means a noise which indicates rudeness and uproar, but 
merely the exuberance of youthful spirits, where people do not 
consider the State in danger from allowmg " boys to be boys," 
instead of keeping them under the surveillance of a police, lest 
a little excess of mirth should increase, and become rebelUon, 
and end in revolution ! We are reminded of the words of one 
of their own poets — 

Oh Lustgesang, Oh Hirtensang ! 
Wie schallest Du so schon, 
Durch wonnevollen Sennenklang! 
Herab von griinen Hoh'n ! 
Ich frag' Euch alle, stolze Laader, 
Habt Ihr so siissen Jubelsang ? 
Nein, nein, nein, nein, das habt Ihr nicht, 
Euch fehit der Freiheit susses Licht ! 

276 



276 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

To translate this would be to spoil it, but the sentiment is, 
"Why are the pleasure ' songs,' and 'shepherd songs' here 
so thrilling and so beautiful, from the green heights of the 
Sennhut to the valley beneath. All ye proud lands I ask, hare 
you festal songs like these? No, no, no, no ; because you 
breathe not the air of the free I" 

The wordless notes of the Ranz des Vackes are said to be no- 
where so thrilling and musical as upon the hills of Glarus and 
Appenzell, and nowhere was freedom more bravely won, and by 
none more sacredly preserved. 

The day in their heroic history of which they are most proud, 
is that which saw the battle of Ncifles, April 9, 1588, which 
left one hundred and eighty three Austrian chevaliers on the 
field, and two thousand five hundred soldiers, their own loss 
being only fifty-five. The enemy had come upon them unawares, 
obtaining an entrance at the gates which protected the valley 
on the north, by treachery, and pouring down upon the as- 
tonished people came near, crushing them before they had time 
to seize their clubs. But three hundred and fifty defended the 
narrow passage for five hours against the whole Austrian army, 
and by that time messengers had reached the town, when the 
Landamman collected a few shepherds, and met the retreating 
party at Nafles, where some ascended the heights, and pelted 
them with stones, which so threw them into confusion they were 
easily put to rout on the plain. Austrians then, as now, knew 
no other way, but to ''march" and "wheel" and "face about" 
according to rule, and, therefore, then as now, could be very 
easily wheeled to destruction by a little ingenuity. 

Appenzell had the aid of the Glarners in throwing off the 
yoke of the bailiffs, and on all occasions, when soldiers were 
necessary, they were ready with their fortunes and their lives. 



GLAEUS. 2Y7 

During four hundred and ten years no foreign army had set 
foot upon their soil, when it fell into the hands of the French 
in It 98, and they lost all their possessions, and in the course of 
five months five battles were fought between the French and 
Austrians within their limits. This ended their experience of 
wars, and, more fortunate than many of their neighbours, they 
have never been torn by internal dissensions. They have had 
no trouble with the Federal Diet, and none with their own 
Government, as it has always been upon the broad basis of the 
utmost freedom to all. 

Their constitution is curious for the liberality shown to Catho- 
lics when Protestants were a large majority ; and the two con- 
fessions live together in perfect harmony, having an equal share, 
in proportion to numbers, in all public administration, and in 
the capital of the canton using the same church, the one in the 
morning and the other in the afternoon. This liberality is per- 
haps owing to the influence of one of theu- pastors, Yalentin 
Tschudi, who died in 1555, and was the author of the History 
of the Reformation, and the burden of whose sermons was, 
" Live like brethren, the disciples of one Lord and Master !" 
For many years he was a Catholic, and afterwards, inclining 
towards the reformation, he still retained his pastoral office, per- 
forming mass in the morning, and preaching to a Protestant 
congregation in the evening, but at all times carefully avoiding 
every subject of controversy. To some people who remon- 
strated against such tolerance, he said, " Do you think it impos- 
sible to be a Catholic in the morning and a reformer in the 
evening, and yet a Christian all day ?" Eventually, however, 
he embraced the new religion in full. 

He belonged to one of those iwhle families of whom we find 
so many in Switzerland, who are reverenced by the people for 



278 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

their antiquity and for the noble deeds of their fathers. For 
this reason they invest them for a series of years, perhaps for 
centuries, with the highest offices of the State. Fastidious crit- 
ics and travellers think this too aristocratic, but we see in it 
only a proper regard to worth and a just reverence to heroes. 
The officers are re-elected every year, or at certain periods dif- 
fering in different cantons, and they choose to select them from 
the same family, which is not at all likely they would do if they 
were not also worthy. 

Christianity was first preached in Glarus by an Irish monk, 
who came among them in 490, and founded a convent. Which 
was dependent upon one which he had previously established at 
Seckingen, on the Baden side of the Rhine. Subsequently, all 
the country became subject to the abbots of this convent, except 
forty families, among which that of Tschudi was one. The pre- 
sent pastor of Glarus belongs to the same family. It is not 
necessary to be so democratic as to discard worthy men because 
they belong to " old families," when they themselves do not 
make this a reason for demanding honors and emoluments. In 
the cantons where this has been done, they are almost certainly 
deprived of those they might otherwise have enjoyed. 

A Tschudi, who died in 15*12, wrote one of the best histories 
of Switzerland, and others have distinguished themselves in vari- 
ous ways, proving that worth is sometimes an inheritance. The 
children ni the hotel, where we were, brought us their reading 
book, which we saw was also prepared by their pastor, Tschudi. 
It contained a good selection of prose and poetry ; and we were 
a little gratified to find two or three stories of Washington and 
American history side by side with those of William Tell and 
the men of Grtitli, and the children taught to repeat them with 
almost as much enthusiasm. 



GLAEUS. 279 

Zwinglius was pastor iu Glarus nine years, and the liberality 
and practical piety of the people may be in some measure owing 
to these elements in his teachings. In his sermons there is not 
so much of denunciation either of pope or prince as character- 
ised many of those of his day, and no flattery of their subjects. 
In his counsels are no exhortation to the selfish enjoyment of 
sohtude, or the indulgence of the spirit in dreamy Idleness, 
which many people flatter themselves is " communion with 
heaven," and therefore meritorious, when it is only an excuse 
for inaction, and an escape from responsibility. What better is 
it to shut one's self in a closet or a church than in a monk's cell 
or a hermit's cave ; and what example or precept of Christ are 
those following who spend their lives in the " holy delights and 
joys of meditation," instead of going forth into the world to 
meet its trials, temptations, and sacrifices, in the spirit of Him 
who made his examples the great sermon of his life, and carried 
it to the tables of wine-bibbers and into the halls of money- 
changers ? We were never able to understand how it came to 
be considered any part of the religion of Christ among Catho- 
lics or Protestants to live as hermits either by one name or 
another. 

These are thoughts, though not the words, which Zwinglius a 
thousand times uttered, and the Glarmr Volk evidently profited 
by his instructions. 

It is a proverb in Switzerland, that " No Glarmr was ever 
known to remain behind when the honour and good name of 
the land were at stake." When they are abroad, they keep 
constantly in remembrance that they are the representatives of 
their country, and must be sure to conduct themselves in such a 
manner as to bring no reproach upon the name they bear. 

They seem to think it would be a disgrace to have among 



280 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

them many sects, and say, "We have no Pietists, no Separa- 
tists, and few Baptists." Yet the religious feeling and sense of 
honour are very strong ; and self-denial and sacrifice have no 
bounds when their land's-people are in need. If a calamity 
befall a family or district, all contribute to remove it ; and 
houses are everywhere being built by those who agree, one to 
draw the wood, another the stone, a thkd to hew, a fourth to 
hammer, and all to do something till it is within the means of 
the owner to finish. It is the same in their factories. Employer 
and employed are scarcely distinctions ; — they are all citizens, 
brothers, and friends. 

Like those of Tessino and Graubiinden, they, too, are a wan- 
dering people. All the way from Madrid to St. Petersburg 
they may be seen either settled as merchants or travelling as 
agents, with their calicoes, handkerchiefs, slates and tea. These 
are their especial articles of commerce. 

How curiously great events spring out of trifles ! It is related 
that in the sixteenth century some poor people in the Sernfthal 
thought the stones they found in the neighbourhood were very 
smooth and pretty ; and without any idea that they could be 
made useful, offered some for sale. Another person, with 
scarcely more thought, framed a piece, and used it for keeping 
his accounts, and any little writing he had to do ; and still 
another thought, it would make a nice table. This was the 
origin of the use of slates. Some fifty or sixty persons were 
employed in breaking the stone from the quarry, and as many 
joiners to fit them to frames, till the commerce spread into all 
Europe. For them the business is now confined mostly to 
Switzerland, as slate stone was discovered in other countries, 
but their wandering commenced with these, and taught them new 
wants for themselves and new wants for the world. 



GLARTJS. 281 

Their next article of commerce was a kind of tea, whicli grows 
upon their hills, and which is very palatable ; and being cheaper 
than that which comes from China, is in great demand by the 
lovers of tea who cannot afford young Hyson or Bohea. 

They were once famous for all manner of little boxes, game- 
boards, and fanciful articles made of different kinds of wood, 
which they climbed every mountain and searched every forest to 
find ; but they say, since America sent her beautiful woods to 
Europe, " this trade is spoiled." 

They are still renowned for peculiar cheese, which is made 
nowhere else, and for which no other country seems to furnish 
the material. It bears the distinctive name of Schahzieger 
Cheese. We used to see them in Germany in the form of little 
pyramids, the size of a quart measure, and the colour of sage. 
They are very hard, and must be grated to use, the powder 
being sprinkled upon the butterhrod for "a relish." 

The herb from which it receives its name was called originally 
zicgenklee, or kraut, and also siehenzeit, because the flavour 
changed seven times daily ! It was knoAvn to the Greeks as a 
medicinal plant, and was transplanted to the gardens of cloisters 
for this reason. It is alluded to among the botanical plants of 
the cloister garden of St. Gall in the ninth century. The first 
definite knowledge of the cheese dates to the fifteenth century, 
when the nuns of St. Gall taught the nuns of Glarus how to 
make it. It is mentioned as one of the articles of food furnished 
by Abbot Ukich the Eighth to the army he stationed to watch 
the enemy on the borders of Germany. 

In 1464 it was ordained by the Government, " that each one 
should make his cheese good and clean, turn it, salt it, and stamp 
his name on the rind ;" and declared at this time to be a well- 
known article of commerce and exported into all other lands. 



282 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

Conrad Gessner, of Zurich, wrote in his book published in 1541, 
and dedicated to the " Grlarner Yolk," " Your people are prin- 
cipally engaged in the care of cattle and in making all kinds of 
food from milk, among which is the schahzieger, that is known 
everywhere and deserves to be." 

They bring the curds from the Sennhut in hempen bags to the 
village dairy, and when drained till very dry, the powdered herb 
is mixed with it by means of a sort of mill of large stones, which 
grind it very fine, till the two have become one substance, when 
it is put in moulds to be pressed, and set in the air to dry. 
Much care and experience are necessary to be sure that every 
process is rightly performed — when it is in the right state to 
press, to rub, to dry, and to grate ; and none but the Glarner 
people have ever succeeded in making it exactly right. When 
the little cheeses are ready, they are packed in boxes containing 
forty each, and sent to all the world ; and wherever we go we 
shall be happy to meet them, for they are the only Swiss cheese 
we cordially like. 

In It 14 a man taught the servant in his family and some 
poor people to spin, which was the origin of the cloth-making, 
though for many years they sent their yarn to Zurich to be 
woven. But now they spin it, and weave it, and print it for 
themselves. Their grass plats are not covered with webs of 
gossamer or fine linen, but long rows of turkey-red, which look 
very warm on a hot summer's day. Their calicoes, like the 
ribbons of Basle, are no cheaper at the mills than a thousand 
miles away ; from this reason they say, that "if they were, 
everybody would come to the mills to buy, and the merchants 
would have no profit." 

Those who go out into the world to make a little fortune, 
often cojie home to spend it in the old homestead ; and though 



GLARUS. 283 

adding a little to their comforts and luxuries, make no display- 
that contrasts unpleasantly with those around. They have a 
thoroughly upright, sensible, respectable look, which would 
attract the attention of the most ordinary observer. We hap- 
pened to see half the town one day — indeed, half the canton — 
first at one station, and then at another, on a fete occasion, and 
thought we had never seen so many fine faces ; and the friendly 
greetings prompted us to exclaim : " Are they all brothers and 
sisters and cousins here ?" and they were not less friendly to a 
stranger. 

We were some miles from the station where we had stopped, 
when we discovered that our " guide-book" was left behind. A 
lady, with a face we should notice among a thousand, and never 
forget, seeing us look for something, kindly asked what we had 
lost. On hearing, she said : "But you can get it by telegraph- 
ing ; ask the conducteur to send for it." " But do you think it 
would be of any use ? there were hundreds of people there, and 
no person would know to whom it belonged, and there was uo 
name in it." The conductor appearing at that moment, we told 
him our calamity, and he said : " But you should not be so 
careless ; there is no telegraph for miles yet ;" and went along. 
But soon he came back, and asked the address to which it would 
be sent, still repeating : '' You should take care of your things ; 
how do you expect to get a book where there is such a crowd 
of people ?" His words were rather harsh, but his manners 
were not ; yet we had little hope of seeing the book, though two 
gentlemen kindly assured us, "There was no doubt of it; nobody 
would touch it." 

The incident had introduced us to the friendly lady, and we 
scarcely regretted the loss with such a 'gain. She was one of 
those whom nature produces now and then, and to whom all the 



284 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

art and polish of courts would not add a charm. She had never 
seen the world, and knew nothing of airs and graces, but these 
would not have made her more refined, and might have detracted 
from her loveliness, and taught her that it was vulgar to be 
frank and unsuspicious. Not often in a lifetime have we expe- 
rienced such genuine kindness or been so won by native grace 
and beauty. 

The next morning the red " guide-book " walked mto our room 
in the hands of one of those black-eyed, red-cheeked Swiss 
officials, and we asked, "What is to pay?" He said, "No- 
thing," and doffed his cap. "But nothing for the telegraph or 
the trouble ?" " Nothing." The conductor had given it to him, 
and told him to bring it to me. This was all he knew. The 
pleasant man had scolded us for our carelessness, and rewarded 
us in this way. We shall be in no danger of forgetting either 
the one deed or the other. 

The hum of the factory has not silenced the shepherd's song ; 
and the Alps are still the principal dependence of the people, 
but are now chiefly private property, yet subject to general laws. 
Only so many cattle can be kept upon a certain space, and per- 
sons are appointed to count them and attend to the clearing of 
the pastures. Every Senn is bound by oath to give the number 
correctly. No one is allowed to have a great flock of sheep to 
the injury of the wild hay, and no one is allowed to begin cut- 
ting it before August. This is to prevent accidents to those in 
the valleys, who must receive notice of the time, because it 
comes tumbling down from the heights with such force, that 
persons may be killed or seriously injured if they do not keep 
out of the way. Those who cut it are obliged to fasten them- 
selves to the cliffs with hooks or cramping irons, by which they 
nold with one hand and use the sickle with the other, and in 



GLAEDS. 285 

this way they gather a hundred pounds a day, where neither 
goat nor chamois would think of browsing. 

The ceremonies of election day are the same as we have seen 
in Canton Uri, with slight variations ; and we could not expect 
any great bribery or corruption to be used in obtaining an office, 
the emoluments of which amount to barely one hundred and fifty 
dollars a year. This is all the Landamman receives, and the 
treasurer seventy dollars. The whole expenses of the Govern- 
ment of the canton for a year amount to six hundred dollars. 

The people assemble on the second Sunday in May ; and no 
man who is eighteen thinks of staying at home on an occasion 
when he is to show that he is one of the sovereigns of the land. 
The streets are filled as with a procession, and they are as ear- 
nest talking of "the candidates" and the new road or tax, or 
whatever is to be voted upon, as if the whole nation was put up 
at auction. The benches are placed upon the square in the form 
of an amphitheatre, exactly as they were at the first election 
ever held in the canton. The ringmg of bells is the signal for 
the procession to form, when the trumpeter takes the lead, and 
the Landweibel follow with sceptre of silver and sword. Their 
mantles are red, with a stripe of black behind, and their sense 
of importance not less than that of the chamberlains of the King. 
When the officers arrive, all the people rise and uncover their 
heads. The oath of office is then repeated by Landamman and 
Statthalter, when the assembly is called upon to do the same. 
Every man holds up his fore-finger while the formula is read, and 
when it is finished, with bare head and finger * still raised, re- 
peats the following words : " That which has been read to me, 

* The reader will remember, that in the case mentioned in Brunswick in " Peasant 
Life in Germany," when the fingers fell, the witness felt at liberty to swerve from the 
truth. In both cases, to hold it uprightly is an oath of fi delity. 



286 



THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 



and which my office, condition, and country's oath require, I 
have understood plainly and fully. I swear to live for them in 
all truth and fidelity. This I swear so truly as I pray, ' God 
me to help.' " The Catholics add, " And the Holy "Virgin.'' 
This is said by all in a half tone ; but as soon as the last word 
is uttered, a quick and earnest expression of assent, as with one 
voice, goes through the assembly. 

The voting is by raising the hand, though there are eight 
or ten thousand persons present. No proposition can be con- 
sidered which has not been presented to the council a month in 
advance. 

Whoever speaks, begins his address in the following manner : 
" Highly respected Sir Landamman, highly respected, highly 
honoured gentlemen, high and worthy pastors, trustworthy, free, 
and beloved countrymen." 

In front of the platform a place is always left for boys, that 
they may be solemnly impressed with the duties of citizens, and 
they evidently enjoy the privilege, and attend like those who are 
by and by to share the honours and responsibilities. 

If it rains on election day, messengers are sent to say it will 
be deferred. If a storm comes suddenly, they finish only the 
important business, though they often stand hours in a pelting 
rain, to settle all questions ; so jealous are they of sovereign 
rights ! 

Usually there is remarkable order ; but sometimes storms of 
words arise, more frightful than the clouds furnish, which the 
subjects of despotism think an indication of the evil tendencies 
of liberty, but at which an American would only be amused. 
When people are permitted " to speak their minds," there is no 
smothering of wrath, and those who are defeated always have 
the hope and consolation of being the victors next time. 



GLAKUS. 287 

A pastor in 1^65 preached a sermon, censuring severely 
various customs and practices, which he thought unworthy of 
such a people. It was received very kindly, but a clergyman in 
Zurich, to whom it was lent, caused it to be printed, and this 
excited the indignation of the whole land. The good pastor 
was called the betrayer of his country, and summoned before 
the council to answer for his sins. As he appeared, he was met 
with execrations ; but when he arose to make his defence, his 
voice was so gentle, and his words so earnest and kind, that 
they vrere softened, and before he finished, they cried out, that 
he was right, and just, and good. 

A Landamman in 1*Z15 was denounced as false to his coun- 
try, because he had defended his brother, whom he believed to 
have been wrongfully accused. But when he appeared before 
them, and in all honour stated the whole case and showed that 
he would have been verily guilty, if fear of the people had led 
him to punish an innocent man, because he was his relative, they 
exonerated him, and collected a sum of money for the slandered 
brother. 

These incidents show that an excited popular assembly may 
be controlled by reason and truth, calmly and seriously presented. 

One of the old statutes ordained that a man who married 
'two wives should be bound hand and foot, and thrown into the 
river, to " drown his false heart." 

If fruit-trees were planted so that the branches hung over 
another man's field, he could have all the apples he could reach 
with his hands and with hooks. 

Children under sixteen cannot marry mthout the consent of 
parents, but after that age may do as they please. Children 
who are forced to marry against their will, can be released by 
law. 



288 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

Betrothed persons must marry within three months. A 
woman who runs away from her husband, and returns without 
being invited, is assailed by all the boys, who assemble before 
the house, and serenade her with cat noises, calling her out, and 
obliging her to depart, escorted by their music. 

A man who is guilty of adultery is branded by public opinion 
as a forger or bigamist is elsewhere, and not eligible to any 
public office during the whole of his life, which under such a 
Government is the greatest punishment which can be inflicted. 
The man who breaks his promise of betrothal, or in any way 
betrays a woman to mortification and shame, is heaped with 
the same scorn as women receive elsewhere. The w^oman who 
is betrayed is also censured, but the man is henceforth an out- 
cast. How curious to find in this one little corner of the earth 
the law and custom of the whole civilized w^orld reversed 1 The 
consequence is, that the falsehood and crime so common else- 
w^here are here unknown. If a girl allows herself to be ruined 
by a stranger in the canton over whom their laws and customs 
have no power, she is placed in the pillory an hour, with a straw 
wreath on her head, and then banished for three years. The 
illegitimate children are not so many as one in a hundred of the 
births ; and these occur not among their own people. 

In some places the superstitions are still many. The crow 
and the woodpecker are evil omens ; and witches have lost none 
of their power. Thor and Woden were evidently the gods of 
those who once inhabited the land ; and remnants of the ancient 
mythology are still to be traced in the credulity of the ignorant. 
To sit upon a house where one is sick will bring death. Who- 
ever meets a white chamois will die. The blossoming of the 
nightshade, the striking of the clock when the bells ring, are 
tokens of evil ; but if one has money in his pocket when he first 



GLAKUS. 289 

hears the cuckoo smg in the spring, he will have money all the 
year. 

Hunting and fishing are free, except for the chamois, and 
with some restrictions for seasons when game is not good. 

The dissecting knife of Professor Agassiz has been among the 
tenants of the Linth, and he has found more than forty differ- 
ent species of fish in its waters. The stories of chamois hunters 
are marvellous as fairy tales. In German Jogdgeschichte has 
about the same signification as sailors yarn in English, and 
when the hunter relates what they cannot believe, they say he 
tells Jagdgeschichten, he spins long yarns. Many of them remind 
one of " leather stocking " and the trappers of Kentucky in the 
olden time in America. Hunting is to them a passion, and its 
hardships only incitements ; but they often faint and die among 
the glaciers, or fall and break their limbs, and thus perish 
before help can reach them. They relate the fate of one who 
used to go every Monday morning, with only bread and cheese in 
his pocket, and return on Saturday night to attend church and 
spend Sunday with his family. At length the accustomed hour 
did not bring him ; and the next day those who went to search 
found him sitting with his head upon his hand, and elbow upon 
one knee, the other having been broken so that he could not 
move. He had been frozen to death. He had acquired a little 
fortune of three thousand dollars from his perilous profession. 
Another killed one beast every day for four successive days, and 
brought them home ; but the fifth he came not ; and they found 
him alive, but so deep in a snowy ravine, that it was impossible 
to save him. They could only stretch out their hands in pity ; 
they could not reach him. He had killed three hundred cha- 
mois. 

The paths among the glaciers of Graubilnden were a long 

13 



290 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

time known only to the chamois hunter ; and those of Cha- 
mouni were not discovered by tourists till 1^94. The unknown 
regions were called "valleys accursed," and supposed to be in- 
habited by savages. Messrs. Windham and Pocoke, who went 
from Geneva, determined to explore them, were considered as 
committing a sin and condemned. They returned in safety to 
say the inhabitants were good Christians, though unknown to 
the Pope, and good Savoyards, though unknown to the King of 
Sardinia. Their taxes soon became heavier than their glaciers, 
and their poverty is greater than among any of the Swiss Alps. 
Around Bernina, in Graubtinden, there are more glaciers 
than around Mont Blanc, and they are not less grand, but it 
has not yet become the fashion to chmb them. The hunter has 
them still all to himself. In 183t one died, who numbered two 
thousand seven hundred chamois as the victims of his rifle. His 
son used to kill from forty to fifty a day, but in 1854 the num- 
ber amounted to only eleven, as the gentle creatures have learned 
that the chase is forbidden in the Yaltline, and flee there for 
refuge. Now and then a tame one may be seen, who has been 
brought up with the goats, but they do not learn of him grace, 
and he never quite conforms to goatish habits. The hunter says 
they are not shy in their youth, neither are they so skilful and 
expert in bounding over the glens. The young ones are taught 
as a child is taught to walk, the mother going back and forward, 
performing a succession of leaps, and then looking anxiously on 
while they are imitated, by first a little jump, and then a longer 
one, till they fear no height, and pause at no depth. Whether 
this is true, or a Jagdgeschichte, we do not know, but there is 
not a prettier sight than a troop of the beautiful creatures put 
to flight by a hunter's gun, and bounding, with the swiftness of 
birds, over mountain and valley and stream. 



GLAETJS. 291 

But the brave men of Glarus are not all hunters. Gallati, 
who was sixty-nine years field-marshal of France, was a native 
of this canton, a shepherd boy on the Alps ; and they have 
given to the armies of Italy and France many of their most dis- 
tinguished generals. 

A nobler man still w^as Escher von der Linth, who was instru- 
mental in turning the course of the river Liuth, so as to convert 
two thousand acres of marsh into fruitful fields, and thus give a 
pure air to hundreds who had before breathed only pestilence. 

The Lake of Zurich and the Wallen sea are thus connected 
by a navigable canal, and a profitable commerce opened to the 
people. 

The proposal of Escher was adopted in 180t, and in ten years 
the work was finished by means of a subscription throughout 
the country, obtained by the eloquence of one man. The title 
of von der Linth was conferred upon him by the Federal Council 
as a reward for his labours. But by the sentimentalists of des- 
potism this would be considered evidence of a practical and mer- 
cenary mind, and the projector far inferior to him who has suc- 
cessfully slaughtered a few thousand innocent men on the field 
of battle. 

They have also furnished many eminent historians and jurists, 
as well as useful men in all the various calHngs of life. It was 
a man of Glarus who first introduced potatoes into Switzerland, 
which is a deed to which attaches no edat, but, perhaps, no 
other has proved a greater good to the people. 

All summer there is a throng of mountain climbers, and every 
morning parties set out on expeditions to the surrounding heights 
behind which the sun sinks so early, that the long summer days 
are short, affording in winter scarcely six hours of daylight. 
We were more interested in the expeditions of a little boy, who 



292 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

used to go every morning witli his little herd of goats, and re- 
turn in the evening with his charge. He did not look more 
than six years old, and was often scarcely awake when he set 
out, with a little whipr in his hand, and two or three animals, 
who followed him slowly, being joined by others here and there 
as they passed the houses of the owners, till the full number was 
complete. We always pitied him in the morning, he looked so 
sleepy, and was so small to go far away alone among the hills, 
but in the evening he came merrily home, and a very opposite 
sentiment was inspired as the children ran out to welcome him, 
putting their arms around the goats, patting and kissing them, 
while the little herdsman laughed and snapped his whip full of 
glee. 

Thus all our journeyings were strewn with pleasant incidents 
that will be furnished in the future ''sunny memories" in "for- 
eign lands." 



( THURGOVIE ■ ) 




CHAPTER XIX. 

THURGO\aE. 

TALK IN A DILIGENCE — COACHMAN's LIVEET— THURGOVIAN VILLAGE — POST 
OFFICE — ^NAPOLEON IN THURGOVIE — CUSTOM-HOUSE — SCHOOLS — WEDDINGS. 

The first acquaintance we made with Thurgovie was, when 
occupying the traveller's seat in a post-chaise, with a very 
young and very good-natured looking little coachman, seated 
within speaking distance in front. 

We do not wait long for an occasion of addressing him ; for 
this is our principle in Switzerland as in Germany, to learn all 
we can about the people from the people themselves, not under- 
standing how there can be a better authority for any custom, 
than those who practise it ! 

But in this case, as in a multitude of others, we learn that it is 
not a Swiss, but a German, with whom we are thrown in contact. 

" What part of Germany are you from ?" 

" Wtirtemberg." 

" What did you come to Switzerland for ?" 

" Ach, man kann hier besser machen !"* (Oh, one can do 
better here 1) 

* A German suggests that this is not good German, but it is an expression often 
heard in Switzerland. 



294 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

" Why ?" 

" We get more wages." 

'' Oh, you do ; and how much do you get a week or year in 
your office of coachman ?" 

" Five francs a week and found." 

" What did you do in Germany ?" 

" I was coachman there too." 

" How much did you have a week V^ 

*' Sixty sous." 

" O yes, I see, it is a little better ; and is this all the reason 
why you prefer Switzerland ?" 

" Oh, nein — 'die Freiheit."' 

*' You think it is freer here than in Germany ?" 

Upon which he laughed, as if we must be very stupid to ask 
such a question ; but immediately said, '' Are you from Ger- 
many ?" 

"^o 'j but we have lived there some time ; and we also like 
the Freiheit here better than the absence of it there." 

In the course of conversation we learned that he was not yet 
twenty-one, and had only been in Switzerland a year — that he 
was to receive from the Federal Government a whole new suit 
of clothes the first day of every May. When we asked him 
how much the clothes cost, he did not know, because it had 
never occurred to him to ask. He went to the tailor and was 
measured, and when they were finished he received them. He 
went to the hatter and the bootmaker in the same way. Tlie 
clothes were of Prussian blue ; and before we had journeyed 
many miles, as we passed a house a similar suit was brought to 
him to carry to the coachman on the next road. These being 
on the seat, we examined them more closely, and saw that the 
buttons had for ornament, the great cord and tassels wi^h the 



THURGOVIE. 295 

trumpet attached, which our driver wore over his shoulder. So 
we ask, '' Are the buttons of all the coachman's coats in Switzer- 
land like these ?" 

" Yes, they are all alike ; it is our uniform ; so we always 
know one another." 

The collar and seams were of bright red, with some white 
stripes for beauty. As we turned it over, he said, '' Schon, 
nicht wahr ?" (They are beautiful, are they not ?) And a 
look of conscious pride spread over his face as he glanced at his 
own federal livery. 

We afterwards had occasion to notice many, and saw the 
never-faiUng cord and tassels on all the buttons, and also the 
invariable pattern of roses and butterflies, on all the cushions 
and coach linings in the twenty-two cantons. 

The trumpet was of course to blow, when he came to a post- 
of&ce or other place where it was his duty to stop ; but instead 
of this he snapped his whip and waited long, sometimes in vain, 
going on without seeing the people. 

" Why do you not blow the horn ?" we ask. His face 
turned a deeper scarlet than his coat collar, while he laughed 
but spoke not. 

" Why do you not blow the horn ?" we repeat, seeing that 
he is determined not to do it, whether anybody hears or not. 

" Oh, niemand thut es," nobody does it. 

" But in Germany they blow the horn continually ; why do 
you not like to blow the horn ? We think it is beautiful." 

" Yes, in Germany, but in Switzerland nobody does ; and 
they would all laugh at me." 

So, as the Germans say, we learned the secret ; still we could 
not be quite certain why nobody liked to blow horns in Switzer- 
land ; and the little man was evidently not a philosophei'. He 



296 THE COTTAGES OF THB ALPS. 

did not ask the price of Ms coat, being quite content to get it ; 
he carried the horn, because the rest did ; and he did not blow 
it, because the others did not. 

It was the same with what he ate and drank; he never asked 
how much was paid for his board. All his wants were supplied ; 
his duty was to take all the travellers who went that way to a 
certam village, which required only three or four hours. The 
next day he returned ; and when not on the road, he cared for 
the horses. Surely no philosopher could be more content. 

But either because we are neither coachman nor philosopher, 
or for some other reason, we are not so content, and begin to 
wonder what should create this insignificant point of difference 
between those of the same class in these two countries, lying 
side by side. But the difi'erence is not in those of this class 
alone, in matters of equal importance. Whoever is angestdlt in 
Germany, must blow his trumpet, whether it is tied with cord 
and tassels over his shoulder, or appears in a string of long 
titles to his name ; some grand parade must be made to let 
all the people know that they are Government employes. In 
Switzerland, those who are Government employes are usually 
something else, for all the Government furnishes them would 
not supply their daily bread. The magistrates, professors, and 
literary men often have a trade or some business by which they 
live ; literatm-e and the duties of office being only pastime. A 
Frenchman in writing on Zurich says: " An artisan knows more 
of literature than the beaux esprits of Paris. A man is not 
merely a geometrician or a naturalist, but a useful man in some 
sphere of active hfe. Lavater was curd to the orphan-house, 
and is remembered only for the good he did. Their books are 
everywhere, and their names have filled the world." 

But whilst we are philosophizing, the post-chaise has set us 



THUBGOVIE. 297 

down at a mce-looking inn, where we are to observe a little 
while, and leave moraMzing for another day. 

Fortunately for our purpose, we are again by the village 
brunnen, which, however, has not the usual hero or saint placed 
to protect it, and probably is not thought worthy this honour, 
as the reservoir is only a large trough, into which the water is 
conducted by the simplest of wooden spouts. But the frauen are 
there all the same, -with great tubs and baskets of clothes, and 
nod to us so famiharly that we look again to see if it is any one 
we have known before. This we noticed, too, in passing in the 
coach ; the women looked up and greeted us in so friendly a 
manner that we could not at first beheve they regarded us as 
quite a stranger. But we afterwards learned it is their custom, 
and a very pleasant one it seems. How many such pleasant 
customs there are among unsophisticated people. What a con- 
trast to the cold, inhospitable " Who are you ?" manner of the 
high-bred and world-wise I 

Passing by the village post-office, we look in at the windows, 
and see that the duties are performed by an old lady and a very 
pretty young one ; and as here the post wagons from three dif- 
ferent ways meet, there is quite a bustle, as the great and little 
bags, containing great and Uttle letters, are untied, and their 
contents poured forth. We walk in, and ask for a letter, though 
we know that by no possibility can one reach us here, where no 
person in the world has been informed that we shall ever come. 
But being once within, on any proper pretext, we sit down and 
obseiTe the operations. The room is small, and a gate separates 
the postmistress from those who come in, but does not at all con- 
ceal the bags or their contents ; and soon comes a village 
maiden, blushing like a tuHp or peony, to ask if there is no letter 
for her. How sad she looks as they tell her " No," in a chiUing 

13* 



298 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

business tone, and she turns slowly away. Then comes an old 
man, whose son is in a strange land ; a little boy, whose sister 
is on a journey; a mother, who has not heard from her daughter 
for very, very long. Alas ! how many family and heart-histo- 
ries are revealed in this one hour : and our thoughts are ever 
recurring to that one village scene with an interest we have sel- 
dom felt in strangers. 

How very respectable looks that portly middle-aged man, 
with his straw hat bound with black, and large w^hite-headed 
brown and yellow cane, walking with his frau, who has the same 
Jlrst people of the village look, on their way to make a neighbourly 
call, or take a social cup of tea. 

We like the looks of things in Thurgovie very well. The 
canton makes almost an equilateral triangle between St. Grail 
and Zurich, and has Lake Constance for her northern boundary. 
Her name she derives from the principal river flowing through 
the land ; but we cannot learn the signification of the' lions in 
full length on her escutcheon, upon fields of green and white, 
climbing up an inclined plane. The mantles of the Landweibel 
are also green and white ; and her Government is now entirely 
democratic. But this was not brought about till a few years 
since ; and Thurgovie was a subject province of the seven 
original cantons after the Austrians were expelled in 1499 till 
after the revolution of 1^98. She has experienced only a short 
period anything like liberty, yet her territory is called the gar- 
den and granary of Helvetia. 

The original Helvetian League was dissolved by the Komans, 
who occupied the country till they were driven out by the 
Germans. They were conquered by Clovis ; and the Francs 
became masters, and introduced missionaries, one bishop having 
a seat at Constance and another at Arbun. Then came the 



THUEGOVIE. 299 

Suabian Counts, who by various rights and with various degrees 
of power, ruled till 1264, when the whole fell by inheritance to 
the House of Hapsburg. The castles of Thurgovie were like a 
network, completely linking and overlooking the land ; the 
ruins *of seventy-two are still visible, and there are only forty 
three square leagues of territory. The monasteries, churches, 
and chapels, were almost as many ; and the tyranny of their 
lords and bishops was Uke a millstone on the necks of the people. 

It is another curious subject for moralizmg, to see the ruins 
of the castle of a Hapsburg Prince not very far from the new 
Imperial palace of the French Emperor. In the castle of 
Gottlieben, on Lake Constance, John Huss and Jerome of 
Prague were imprisoned, and two miles from this is Arenenberg, 
where Hortense Beauharnaia took refuge, when ex-Queen of 
Holland. Her son, Louis Napoleon, repaired thither on his re- 
turn from America, when he was made citizen by the Government 
of Thurgovie and captain of a company of artillery. He prac- 
tised under General Dufour, the commander-in-chief of the Swiss 
republican army, when the soldiers met for a grand review at 
Thun, and took great pride in his Thurgovian regiment. 

When he received his patent of citizenship, he wrote in 
acknowledgment, '' With great pleasure I have received the 
offer which you have made me of citizenship of Thurgovie. I 
am happy to be linked by new bonds to the land which has so 
long extended to me its hospitality. I am an exile. Beheve 
me, that under all relations, as Frenchman and Bonaparte, I 
shall be proud to call myself citizen of Thurgovie, and my 
mother joins me in the expression of this feeling." 

The command of the artillery company was given by the 
Federal Council. This he acknowledged too, in the following 
manner : 



300 the cottages of the alps. 

" Mr. President, 

" I have received the patent by which I am made captain 
of artillery by the little council of Berne. I hasten to express 
my thanks, that you have thus fulfilled my most ardent wish. 
My fatherland, or rather the French Government, has banished 
me, because I am the nephew of a great man. You treat me 
more justly. I am proud to be nilmhered aimong the defenders of a 
state in which the people are recognized as sovereign, and where each 
citizen is ready to sacrifice himself for the good of the fatherland. 

"Accept, Mr. President, the assurance of my highest re- 
spect," etc., etc. 

Is it possible he can ever forget this hpspitality ; or that, 
when they were afterwards asked to give him up, twenty thou- 
sand Swiss soldiers were armed almost in a day to defend his 
rights, not as Louis Napoleon, but as citizen of Thurgovie ? * 

One would thmk, he would be ready to say, " If I forget thee, 
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning. If I do not 

* As a matter of curiosity we add the letter he addressed to the President of the United 
Slates when he left America : 

" Mr. President, 

" I will not leave the United States without expressing to your Excellency how sin- 
cerely I regret being obliged to leave your country before fulfilling my intention of going 
to Washington to become personally acquainted with you. A cruel destiny has thrown 
me upon your shores ; but I hoped to improve the opportunity this banishment would 
give me of seeing the great men for whom your land is renowned. I wished to learn the 
customs and understand the Government of a country which has made more lasting con- 
quests by its industry and commerce than we in Europe by our arms. 

" i hoped to travel under the protection of your excellent laws, and to study the genius 
of a people which has excited my whole sympathy. But an imperative duty calls me 
back to the Old World. 

" My mother is dangerously ill ; and as no political consideration can detain me under 
such circumstances, I shall immediateiy return to England, and attempt to go from there 
to Switzerland," etc., etc. 



THUKGOVIE. 301 

remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.^' 
Where would he have been now, had there been no land of 
refuge — no England, no America ? Woe to him when he for- 
gets the hand that protected him in the day of his affliction. 
The son of Hortense Beauharnais and grandson of Josephine, 
should be more than prince or emperor — a noble man ! 

The schools he founded in Thurgovie are still flourishing, and 
still receive the aid he promised, and many children are taught 
to call him blessed. But while performing the duties of humble 
citizen and seemingly content, he was probably spinning the pur- 
ple threads of his imperial robe. When it was finished, and he 
became fairly invested with it, he sold the noble castle, with all 
the relics and souvenu-s which had accumulated during the mis- 
fortunes of his family, to a Neufchatelois for the sum of one 
hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars. Twelve years later the 
Empress Eugenie repurchased it for a gift to her husband, and 
has fitted it up anew, in the most recherche style of construction 
and ornament. Almost within sight are the ruins of four other 
castles, one of them having been built by Eugene Beauharnais, 
when Viceroy of Italy. Kings and emperors surely are the sport 
of the fickle goddess. How marvellous that they should so 
devotedly worship at her shrine ! 

In the early historical battles, Morgarten, Sempach, and 
Nafles, the nobles of Thurgovie were in the Austrian army, and 
many of them were among the slain. Afterwards they were 
entirely subdued, and their castles demolished by the people of 
Appenzell ; and though the Emperor regained a measure of his 
power and some of his rights in the Landgravate, the nobility 
never again recovered from the blow. 

But the poor people were no more fortunate under the baihflfs 
which the cantons set over tliem. These officials often paid 



302 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

four thousand dollars for the office, which was to last only 
two years, and repaid themselves by exactions from their subjects- 
This is the dark spot of Swiss history. Having fought so 
bravely for their own independence, and especially to secure this 
very right of choosing their own rulers, they governed with 
scarcely less tyranny and injustice their conquered provinces, in- 
stead of receiving them as brothers and allies. 

The Reformation again made foes of friends ; and during all 
the Thirty Years' War the influence of the nobles was with the 
imperialists, and the people had to guard against traitors within 
and enemies without ; yet they succeeded in securing a little 
more of political freedom, and establishing the reformed religion. 
Bat still they were the subjects of the Confederacy till 1198, 
when a popular assembly demanded admission on an equality ; 
and the fear of the French, and the necessity of unity, made it 
impossible to refuse. Then followed stormy debates about their 
own constitution, which was not framed upon the basis which 
can alone secure peace and contentment till 1831. 

During all those changes, Constance remained a city apart ; 
but this we quite forgot one dark, rainy night, when the dili- 
gence rolled us over its rickety pavements, and set us down at 
the custom-house door. Half a sleep and half frozen, we 
entered the lighted apartment, not at all understanding why, or 
what was to be done, when we heard the man of office order 
our boxes and bundles to be opened, that he might inspect them. 
We were so fortunate as not to betray our ignorance, and made 
no remonstrance, but kept wondering to ourselves why we were 
obliged to submit to this departure from Swiss laws and polite- 
ness in this one city. The man who filled the honourable office 
of examining ladies' toilet boxes exhibited a peculiar exultation 
■as the knots of the cords were being loosened, evidently feeling 



THUKGOVIE. 303 

quite sure of booty because of the care with which they had 
been secured. We had come to our senses, and began to enjoy 
his impatience, and to triumph in anticipation over his disap- 
pointment. They succeeded at length, and without allowing us 
to perform the office ourselves of exhibiting our wardrobe, this 
honourable dignitary thrust his rude hands into the depths of 
woollens, silks, and cottons, without ceremony, 'and found of 
course — nothing — nothing that belonged to him. 

He looked sufficiently ashamed when he had finished to excite 
our compassion rather than our contempt ; and we doubt not, 
the next lady traveller would benefit by our experience. 

A few days afterwards we were at Rorschach, quite as igno- 
rant or forgetful that it was a border town, and the same boxes, 
secured with the same care, were set down by the porter upon 
the very scales of the custom-house. But the official, with a 
peculiar scrutiny which such officers only have, looked in our 
eyes, and said, not only politely, but graciously, " You have 
nothing in this but your wardrobe ?" " Nothing, mein Herr :'' 
upon which he lifted it to test its weight, and ordered it to be 
passed on, bowing to us to do the same. 

When people remain a long time, or take up their residence 
in any town in Switzerland, they are obliged, we believe, to 
deliver their passports, and obtain permission to dwell in their 
midst But we can say for ourselves, that during a residence 
of many months in the country, staying days in one place, and 
weeks in another, we never saw a poHceman that we knew to be 
such ; and when we asked a gentleman, one day, who had lived 
in the capital a, year or two, if a certain man in cap and cloak 
was a member of the police, he said he did not know, he had 
never seen a policeman that he knew of, and could not tell 



30i THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

whether there were any in the city ; which was perhaps quite as 
creditable to him as to the government and people. 

From no government official, high or low, did we experience 
anything but the utmost kindness and politeness, with one ex- 
ception, which was on the railroad, leaving this same town of 
Rorschach. The conductor being a very good-looking man, 
was so absorbed in talking with pretty maidens, that, when we 
asked if this was the carriage we should take, he did not pay 
sufficient attention to answer rightly, and not till we had gone 
some miles in the wrong direction did we learn the mistake. He 
was so rude and baisterous, evidently because he was disturbed 
in his favourite amusement, that we were nearly thrown from 
the carriage into a little village of which we knew not the name, 
nor how we were ever to get out of it. But we had a plea- 
santer experience in the kindness of the station-master, who 
provided for our return to the starting-point gratis, with some 
one who should testify to the treatment we had received, and with 
the injunction that our original ticket was to cover all expenses. 

Constance does not belong to Switzerland, and therefore, 
comes not within our sphere of criticism or description. But 
only a mile from there is Kreuzlingen on Swiss soil, where 
travellers who know enough, or who are thoughtful enough, 
often go to avoid the custom-house, and come into the city sans 
baggage, to review it at their leisure. 

We were interested in Kreuzlingen for another reason. 
Here exists one of the best agricultural schools and teachers' 
seminaries in Switzerland, or on the Continent. The free Gov- 
ernment was no sooner established than schools became their 
first care. Primary schools were immediately instituted, which 
children are obliged to attend from the age of five till twelve, 



THTJEGOVIE. 305 

and higher schools, in which they must continue till fifteen, at 
least one month of every year. Besides these, the Government 
has created secondary schools throughout the canton, so situ- 
ated that no child has more than four miles to go in order to 
attend one. 

The school buildings at Kreuzlingen were formerly an old 
Augustine convent, dating to the tenth century, and rebuilt, 
after its destruction in the Thirty Years' War. The site com- 
mands a beautiful view of the lake, stretching seventy miles east 
and west. To the left rise the towers of the time-honoured, and 
martyr-famed city ; to the right the snow-clad peaks of Appen- 
zell, and in firont, the forest-crowned hills of Wurtemberg. 

Mr. Yehrle, who is at the head of the institution, was a pupil 
of Pestalozzi, and his son distinguished himself as scholar and 
teacher in the school of Fellenberg, at Hofwyl, near Berne. 
He is now an old man, but with a bright, intelligent face, and a 
heart and soul that the monotonous routine of pedagogueism 
has not at all chilled. All who come are welcome, and he 
receives them without apology in his home-spun coat, cowhide 
shoes, and weather-beaten hat, and if they will stay to dinner, 
the plain, every-day fare is set before them with equal cordiality. 

The faces of the students are brown with toiling in the sun, 
but then: manners frank and easy. The principle, Mr. Yehrle 
said, upon which they teach, is, that the peasants should learn 
to be highminded and refined, and yet remain simple. They are 
taught to follow this one good example of the Romish priest- 
hood, to mingle freely with the people, and all that they acquire 
or possess of superiority to diffuse by familiar conversation and 
intercourse. Every young man, he said, rich or poor, should 
some time labour upon the soil. 

The students take care of their rooms, and besides the work 



306 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

of the field, assist in various occupations of the house ; foi 
though the school is supported by the Government, they are 
expected to make the expense as little as possible. 

The course of instruction includes religion, German and 
French, geography, history, arithmetic, geometry, natural his- 
tory, natural philosophy, writing, drawing, vocal music, gymnas- 
tics, architecture. 

In all the normal colleges it is the same, or more extensive, 
and in almost every canton now there is one, and in some two, 
and in others three. In all Switzerland nineteen-twentieths of 
the children are in school, and obliged to stay there, in some 
till they are fourteen, and in others till they are seventeen years 
of age. 

In every canton there is a hoard of inspectors, and minister of 
public instruction, and a parish board of inspectors from among 
the people. No young man can teach without a diploma and 
certificate of character from the normal college where he was 
educated. 

But we often heard the parents complain, that the teachers 
were not of the high order they should be, which is one of the 
surest signs of progress. Where there are Catholics and Pro- 
testants, the directors are chosen in equal numbers from each ; 
and iu the normal schools no one is required to remain in the 
room to listen to religious instruction from those of a different 
denomination than his own. 

In Thurgovie there are ten thousand Protestants, twenty 
thousand Catholics, and three Jews I They now live in the 
utmost harmony, worshipping in the same churches, and enjoying 
all privileges in common ; and they agree also in allowing no 
Jew to live on any terms in their midst, if they can help it. 

If one may credit the sermons preached in the olden time, 



THUKGOVIE. 307 

bad as the people are now, they are still much better than they 
were. In 151 1, fifteen murders from drunkenness in one year 
are mentioned ; and every species of crime is laid to their charge, 
by those whose duty it was to minister to them " doctrine, re- 
proof, and correction." 

We find in the chronicles of this and some other cantons the 
custom of allowing a murderer to do penance for his crime, and 
Uve. In 1524, it was ordained, that one who had sinned in this 
way should enter the church on a specified day, with eighty 
others, and perform penance ; he should cause two masses to be 
said, and attend each with twelve men, paying at both twenty- 
five cents and a candle. He should cause a certain amount of 
bread to be baked for the poor, cause a light to be burnt, and 
prayers to be said in the church for the murdered one, a whole 
year ; erect a stone cross, five feet high, where the relatives 
should direct ; step aside if likely to meet any one who was a 
blood relation of the deceased ; visit no inn, or play, or dance, 
where he could come in contact with them, and must pay them 
forty-four dollars. 

There are still many of the old customs remaining, of which 
one of the most pecuhar is the wedding, which has some of the 
features of those in the northern part of Germany. An orator 
is the bearer of invitations, who is often the village school- 
master. He makes a formal speech before every house, which 
all the people run to hear. On the morning of the wedding, he 
accompanies the bridegroom and the groomsmen to the house 
of the bride, where they breakfast together ; after which he 
makes a speech to the father and mother, recounting to them 
all the noble qualities of the bridegroom, and beseeching them 
to give their daughter williugly away, as he is sure a long life 
of happiness is in store for her. 



308 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

A rival orator then " takes the word^^ and presents the dark 
side of the picture, all the difficulties of the new position, and 
the virtues of the bride. After this parliamentary discussion 
the bride departs with her betrothed for church, amidst prayers 
and tears and good wishes ; and to keep up her spirits, musi- 
cians cheer her way with song. 

After the ceremony they have a dinner, at which the bride 
can only eat what the groomsman places stealthily upon her 
plate, and must be careful that he does not in the mean time as 
stealthily remove her shoe, else she and her husband would be 
laughing-stocks. During the meal, the guests send her little 
presents to make sport. After it is finished, the orator makes 
another speech to the newly married pair, giving them advice, 
hoping they will receive rich gifts and be happy. 

Formerly, the weddings took place on Wednesday, because 
the days of the week in German all end with day except this, 
which is in their language Mittwoch, and therefore no day at all. 
Now among the Catholics they are solemnized on Monday, and 
by the Protestants on Tuesday or Thursday. 

At funerals the mourners cover themselves with long black 
mantles ; and sometimes the schoolmaster makes a speech before 
the house. Black is worn a year by the relatives. 

The kindling of fires on the hills at carnival was continued 
till the insurance companies petitioned for a law to forbid it. 

The last Sunday of Lent is observed among Protestants as a 
fete day, and the first Sunday among Catholics. At the end 
of harvest, and when the rye is threshed, the land proprietors 
give a feast and rural ball, which they call the Sichdlegi and 
PflegelhenU — the laying down of the scythe and the suspension 
of the flail. 

In one district is what they term a fooVs feast. On Ash 



THUKGOVIE. 309 

Wednesday they repair to a castle on a neighbouring hill, and 
form a procession to ride through the village on horseback. 
They form a mock parliament, with a king at the head ; and on 
arriving at the place of distinction, where a throng awaits them, 
the speaker of the day recounts the follies which have been 
committed in all the country round, satirizing individuals and 
communities. The baihff was accustomed to send for the 
dinner two casks of wine, by which he escaped being numbered 
among the fools ; and others who would procure the same 
favour must purchase it, sending wme or some other substantial 
gift. 

The Christmas-tree and the Maypole are still to be seen at 
their respective seasons ; and school children have their days of 
festivity. 

In Thurgovie we find the spuming room as in Germany, flax 
being among their agricultural products : and the long webs of 
linen cover the grass-plots, which the women are seen sprinkling 
with their pretty green watering pots. Often at her marriage 
a maiden receives a great distaff of flax, which she is enjoined 
to spin off as industriously as possible. When she comes to the 
last layer, out fall ribbons, laces, and money, a trousseau which 
only her diligence can reveal. 

Sometimes the dowry is an orchard of apple and pear trees, 
these being the wealth of Thurgovie. 

Yery fine laces are also woven by the Thurgovian damsels, 
but not in great quantities. 

Of the old dress there is nothing peculiar remainmg, except, 
with some, a sort of hat or cap made of calico, and shaped like 
a great plate, looking a little way off like a tray. 

The houses present the same mixture of old and new as else- 
where ; and in some villages they are covered with hideous 



310 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

paintings, the figures large as life, representing some scene in 
history or the Bible. But where new ones are built, they are 
pretty and commodious. 

In no other canton is so much done for fruit, and so much 
pains taken in grafting. They are mostly an agricultural peo- 
ple, but with all the efforts of their excellent school to remove 
them, they still cling to the old ways from prejudice. We 
noticed in a journal that a course of lectures was to be given on 
roads, ditches, and draining ; and the number of hailstorms this 
season had suggested the propriety of having hailstorm insurance 
companies added to their many others. 

On the borders of Zurich are many ribbon looms, and in 
Arbun, on the lake, they weave them of half cotton, and some 
that have not a particle of silk in their composition. 

Only a few devote all their time to any species of manufac- 
ture, but spin and weave in the winter and rainy days, when 
they would do nothing else. 

Their list of savants is very long, numbering some forty or 
fifty in all the different departments of science and belles lettres. 
In the days of old, many of their knights were troubadours. In 
1192, a poem was written by Ulric de Zazikafen, called Lancelot 
du Lac, which is still read as one of the most remarkable in 
German literature. One of their bishops made a collection of 
the songs of the troubadours, and wrote many himself, but 
whether he tried their influence beneath the lattice of some fair 
damsel is not stated. He probably wrote them for others to 
sing. 

On reading their history, it seems as if about as many authors, 
professors, painters, and engravers, as soldiers, have served 
foreign princes, and it is certainly very remarkable how many 
they have produced, for so small a country, and one which has 



THURGOVIE. 311 

the reproach of being only practical and mercenary. Few who 
admire the master-works in sculpture with which the gardens of 
Versailles and the Tuileries are filled, know how great a propor- 
tion were the work of a Swiss artist, Balthasar Keller. Will 
any one say, that only a land over which waves a sceptre can 
produce genius? In the words of another, we ask, "Has 
Vienna, the proud capital, absorbed in a life all material, and 
ministering, as it does, entirely to the senses, sent forth a 
tithe, a hundredth part of the great men of Zurich ?" In 
Austria a man of genius is almost on a level with a valet de 
chamhre, for there, as elsewhere, despotism only debases charac- 
ter and paralyzes intelMgence. 



( GRISONS ) 




CHAPTER XX. 

GRAUEUNDEN. 

SPLUGEN — ^TIA MALA — GREY LEAGUE — VALE OF DISENnS — ITALIAN SHEP' 

HERD— CASTASAGNA CHESTNUTS — ALPINE FETE — KILTGANG — ENGADINE 

DANCES. 

When we looked on the map to trace a route through Switzer- 
land, and glanced upon the portion devoted to Graubilnden, we 
thought, " Is it possible there can be a road, a valley, or even a 
footpath among those mountams, where the surface is black as 
if it were one vast forest ?" On looking in the guide-book we 
read, " Ko one should say he has seen Switzerland until he has 
crossed the Spliigen." 

" O'er the Simplon, o'er the Spliigen 
Winds a path of pleasure," 



says the poet ; and wishing to say ourselves that we have seen 
at least the most important parts of each canton, we look out 
from the back window of our room in Chur one morning, and 
see a coach with Spliigen in great letters on its side, with the 
horses just harnessing that are to trot in that direction, and 

812 



GKAUBUNDEN. 313 

resolve to take a seat by the three respectable-looking passen- 
gers, who have already ''booked themselves" in accordance 
with a similar decision. We send the servant to ask if there is 
time, and she returns to say, " In three minutes they start." 
But they wait three more for a passenger, and we are at the 
end of that time on the way. We had not then seen the Sim- 
plon or the St. Gothard, and whether it was that first impres- 
sions are the most powerful, or that the Splugen is really the 
most wonderful, we cannot tell, but the impression still remains, 
that there can be nothmg more grand or sublime in nature, and 
nothing more marvellous in art, than is here exhibited in the 
course of a day's journey. 

Only the Gondo, in the descent of the Simplon, and the 
Pfaeffers, make any rival pretensions with the Via Mala, but 
this is wilder than the former and grander than the latter, and 
dark and terril^le beyond anythiag Switzerland elsewhere pre- 
sents. The Rhine is rushing in invisible depths below, and the 
sun is shut out by the almost invisible peaks above, while we 
are suspended between, surrounded by the darkness of night at 
mid-day, winding round and round, our road disappearing the 
moment we have passed it, and the one before us concealed by 
great juttmg clifTs, which we must penetrate in order to come 
again to the light of day. We are of opinion, indeed, that no 
one should say he has seen Switzerland, or a mountain gorge, 
till he has crossed the Spliigen. 

The three great roads which owe their construction to the 
triumphs of modern science and art,, seem equally wonderful. 
They are built upon the same principles, and struggle with the 
same general difficulties, which all are equally successful in con- 
quering. One marvels continually how the country ever became 
inhabited before these ways of communication were opened ; yet 



314 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

the Romans crossed the same mountains, and led then* legions 
through the same valleys. 

The inhabitants who peopled it are of diflferent origin, and 
fled here from persecution in other lands, hiding amidst the 
rocks and caves from the sword of tyranny and the might of in- 
justice. 

These valleys were so secluded, that often the people of one 
knew nothing of those in another, perhaps for centuries, but 
when they were invaded, and a common danger threatened, they 
began to unite, and form leagues of defence against foreign foes. 

Grauhunden signifies Grey League, a name which was not 
adopted till the fifteenth century, and before this the country 
was long known as the Ten Jurisdictions, in consequence of 
another union, which had been formed ; but for many centuries 
it was called Rheiia, a name supposed to be given it by the first 
colonists, who were Etruscam, and migrated hither six hundred 
years before the Christian era, and only a century and a half 
after the foundation of Rome. According to Pliny, the leader 
of the colony was Rhaekcs, who thus gave the name to the 
whole country. 

The Romans ruled it during four centuries, but they did not 
leave here a great work to testify to the long residence of any 
considerable number. No castles, aqueducts, or great highways, 
mark the era of their glory. But in 1786 a peasant found in 
digging two vases of brass, bracelets of gold and silver, thimbles 
and other utensils, and coins with the horse of Troy on one side, 
and Venus on the other. In 1811 were found under a rock 
fifty pieces of money, bearing the date of the epoch of the Car- 
lovingian kings, and the most ancient of the hundreds of castles 
scattered over their heights was built in 155. 

Traces of the Rhetians are to be found in all the western and 



GRAFBUNDEN. 315 

northern parts of Switerland ; and they formed cohorts under 
Roman generals, in their Egyptian conquests. The Romans 
were driven out by the northern barbarians, Germans, Ostro- 
goths, and Yisigoths, till finally then* country fell to Theobebert 
of France and his successors, who ruled it three centuries, and a 
bishop from among the Francs first introduced the Christian 
reUgion, and planted the cross among these wilds. 

After the death of Charles the Great, German princes being 
rulers, the whole country was parcelled among dukes, counts, 
and bishops, who covered it with castles and cloisters, each 
assuming the right to govern those whom he found within his 
real or imaginary jurisdiction, till ambition and encroachments 
upon the domain of each other involved them in inextricable 
quarrels, which were ended only by the whole race being driven 
out, and their strongholds demolished by the people, who 
became equally weary of their power and theu' disputes. 

In the fourteenth century began the aUiances of different sec- 
tions with other countries for protection. In the first place the 
bishopric of Disentis united with Canton Uri, in 1319. A few 
years later Disentis and two other districts formed an alhance 
with the three forest cantons together. Afterwards they were 
joined by Glarus, and two other landgravates. 

In 1424 was formed the original Grey League ; the name, says 
tradition, being given it from the grey coats or beards of the 
venerable delegates who formed it. They were representatives 
of the powerful families of the country — the lords, barons, and 
abbots — who swore eternal alhance for mutual protection. 

Next was formed the league of the Ten Jurisdictions ; these 
three being composed of districts entirely distinct from each 
other. Rutin 1471 they all united together, having seriously 
experienced the inconvenience which resulted from so mauy 



316 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

divisions, and needing the strength which unity and harmony 
would give. There was now a central lawful authority, and 
some form of legislation and justice. They adopted the name 
of Grey League for the whole ; and as there was never after- 
wards any serious division, it is retained to this day ; Grauhiin- 
den being the German word, and the French term, Les Grisons. 
for the modern canton. 

Though somewhat tedious, it is still interesting to trace the 
great events of history to the slight causes which gave rise to 
them ; and not less so, perhaps, to learn how so insignificant a 
thing as a name had its origin in some important historical trans- 
action. 

Besides the abbot of Disentis, two powerful lords of the 
country, the Counts Lax and Rhoetzuns, supported the people, 
finding, perhaps, that it was useless to resist them. Many 
others preferred to leave the country, and sold to the peasantry 
all right and title to their domains. 

They were no longer subject to an oppressive TwUesse, but 
peace and quietness were not yet. The Reformation awoke all 
the slumbering elements of strife and bitterness ; and bishops 
and ducal families who had been banished by the people now 
had an opportunity to be revenged ; and in no other land did 
the religious war rage with more violence than in this canton. 
The Pope and "the Grreat Powers" interfered in all their 
affairs. Their territory was disputed by Austria, Prance, Spain, 
and Italy, their fortunes rising and falling as each was conqueror 
or the conquered. 

Yet in 15*74, the day of their w^eakness, they had sufiicient 
strength to enact that no prelate of either confession should 
henceforth meddle with their political debates. 

The Thirty Years' War gave the ecclesiastics an opportunity 



GKAUBUNDEN. 317 

to attempt again to regain their power, and hundreds of inno- 
cent victims were massacred in obedience to the commands of 
rival authorities, and anarchy and confusion filled the land. 
Princes then, as now, improved every opportunity of aggrandiz- 
ing themselves ; and those who were not able to defy them 
entirely, were tossed about between them. But Richelieu and 
Talleyrand did not exert their diplomacy in vain or for evil in Grau- 
btinden . Through their instrumentality a little order was brought 
out of this confusion ; but not till It 99, when they were united to 
Helvetia, had they any settled Government ; and not till 1803, 
when Napoleon harmonized them by his mediatorial powers, did 
they experience true liberty and confidence in each other. After 
three hundred and thirty years of unceasing warfare they were 
at peace, and progressed more in the " ten years of mediation," 
than they had in the three centuries before ! 

As compensation, they were obliged to furnish a certain num- 
ber of soldiers to his armees, which then was not considered by 
them a great tax, had it not been for the conscription. They 
immediately instituted a postal bureau and communications, a 
savings-bank, an ecclesiastical synod for the reformed rehgion, — 
which the Austrians had entirely suppressed, — provided for 
schools, and formed agricultural societies. 

There was a little disturbance in 181 1 ; but since their con- 
stitution was elaborated in 1821, their peace has been un- 
interrupted, and their progress steady, though slow. In 1830, 
when all Europe was in commotion, not a murmur of discontent 
was heard in Graubtinden, because they had no aristocracy to 
overturn, and no privileges to ask. 

We often heard it remarked of this and other cantons, " They 
have belonged to Switzerland so many hundred years, and they 
are no more civilized and have no higher social life than the 



318 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

people in the depotisms around them. Of what use is political 
liberty, if it does not contribute to the advancement of those 
who enjoy it, if they must remain just as poor and ignorant as 
their neighbours in oppression V^ 

We are therefore obliged to show how they have belonged to 
Switzerland, and the hindrances they have met in every attempt 
at progress. 

The social life in Graubtinden is farther advanced than in 
Valais. They live generally in better houses, have a better 
menage, and fewer unseemly habits. 

But each valley is distinct from the other, and separated by 
impenetrable and often unscaleable walls, inhabited by a clan or 
community as unlike those in the others as if they belonged to a 
different nation. 

There are at least thirty of these valleys, in four of which 
they speak Italian, and in ten German, and in all the others 
Romanish (or a mixture of this with others), a language which 
numbers six dialects, and which no person except a philologist 
would ever think of learning. Though the Bible and many 
other books have been translated into Romanish, and there 
is a printing press and two newspapers in the language, it 
is fast disappearing, and German being universally substi- 
tuted. 

Of these many valleys and their inhabitants it will be impos- 
sible to say much within our space, and of many of them there 
would not be much to say if we would. 

Graubtinden is the country of contrasts in climate, soil, and 
people. Five-twelfths of all the glaciers in Switzerland are within 
her limits, there being in all six hundred and five, of which two 
hundred and fifty-five are in this canton. The two great rivers 
are the Rhine and the Inn, the latter of which receives the 



GKAUBUNDEN. 319 

waters of seventy glaciers, and flows northeast to join the 
Danube and to swell the waters of the Black Sea. 

The Rhine has two sources, the one being not far from the 
cradle of the Rhone, and flowing eastward, and the other far 
away to the south, forming in its northward course the valley of 
the Spliigeu, both uniting near Chur, or Coire, the capital of 
the canton. 

At the western extremity of the valley of the Upper Rhine 
is the old Abbey of DistTiiis, the monks of which were the 
pioneers of Christianity, and for many centuries princes of the 
empire. Previous to the arrival of Sigisbert, in 1614, there was 
a hermitage here, but he erected it into a monastery, and by the 
holy fathers the people were not only taught religion, but agri- 
culture. They extended their authority into the Urseren valley, 
and the first magistrate of that country was consecrated by one 
of their number, the abbot receiving as a sign of subjection a 
pair of white gloves, a token of homage which was not dispensed 
with till 1785. 

During the early days of Swiss history they were the allies of 
the house of Hapsburg, and their banner occupied the van at 
the battle of Morgarten. But later they sided with the people, 
and in 1424 were among the framers of the Grey League, which 
was solemnized at Trons, beneath the spreading branches of a 
maple, the decayed trunk of which still stands, cloven and hol- 
low,* but carefully preserved, and devoutly reverenced as the 
Grutli of Grison liberty. In 1178, they assembled around it 
to renew the oaths of four centuries before, and in 1824 cele- 
brated with great state the four hundredth anniversary of their 
first league. 

* One solitary shoot has lately put forth and bears leaves. 



320 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The abbey still exerts great influence in the affairs of the can- 
ton, though divested of its former power and magnificence. At 
its base clusters a little village, which is sufficiently humble to 
increase the imposing appearance of the monastery. The houses 
are of wood, two stories ; small, with very small panes of glass 
for windows, and a stove, looking like a house by itself. Bdiind 
it is the narrow stairway that leads to the second story, where 
there is neither sumptuousness nor cleanliness. 

The people look as if indifferent to every thought or subject 
that interests human beings, yet the first sound of the trumpet 
would see them rush bravely to battle, and the slightest infringe- 
ment of theu' political liberties would be resisted unto death. 
They are their own electors, lords, and legislators ; they pay no 
taxes,* and bow to no superiors. 

In the little villages scattered here and there among the val- 
leys, one is Protestant and another Catholic ; one speaks Ger- 
man, another Romanish, w^ithout any one being able to say 
why, though we suppose it must be owing to a different origin. 

Their riches are reckoned according to the number of cows 
they are able to winter : he who can keep two is not called a 
poor man, and he who can keep eight is rich. The pastures are 
mostly the property of the communes, and rented at so much 
each, the divisions comprising so large a space as will su23port 
one milk cow, or what is equivalent, either four calves or six 
sheep, or from eight to twelve goats. Often there is deep snow" 
in midsummer, so that the cows must be kept under shelter many 
successive nights, and always after the middle of August. The 
barns for the hay are not built in the villages, but at the foot 
of the mountains, to save the trouble of transporting the hay 

* There is no direct t.ax in the canton of Graubiinden. 



GKAUBUNDEN. 321 

from a great distance. This is usually done on the shoulders of 
women, which makes them bent, and old, and haggard, when 
they should still be young. 

The stalls for the cows are seldom warm, and straw never 
abundant for their beds. Eor each they need from ten to 
twelve hundredweight of hay, and allow them each day an 
ounce of salt. A sheep costs only a tenth or twelfth as much, 
and a goat still less, but they are so injurious to forests where 
they browse, that in many places the law forbids them to be 
kept at all, and in others limits the number to five or six for 
each family in the commune. In the summer a goat will give 
from two to five pounds of milk daily, but in winter very little. 
It is a curious sight to see them milked, which is done from be- 
tween the legs behind, while they are pulling with all their 
strength to get away, so that often some one must stand in 
front and hold them by the head during the whole operation. 

Among the Alpine pastures of Graubiinden are several thou- 
sand ItaUan sheep sent for a summer residence, which pay from 
forty to sixty sous each a season. Their shepherds are seen 
lying upon sunny slopes, sleeping or sentimentaUsing, and when 
one is roused by a passing traveller, he looks up with the air of 
a somnambuKst awakened on some perilous cliff. If he is asked 
for bread, he will give the best he has willingly ; but this is very 
likely so hard that it must be long soaked in water to make it 
possible to break it, and he has no other drinking cup than the 
old hat he wears upon his head, from which he takes copious 
draughts himself, and not being able to make conversazione in 
his tongue, sets the wet chajpeaii upon his black locks again, and 
lies down in the sun. This is the climax of simplicity ; we shall 
have nothing to relate that can excel this picture of shepherd 
life. 



322 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

It is idylish too ; but when hunger is ravenous, and miles 
must be traversed before we can reach a cup of dean water, it 
is something beside I 

From Chur to Chiavenna are the valleys of the Domleschleg, 
Via Mala, Schams and Rheinwald. But before we enter the 
Domleschleg, we pass through a valley without a name, a part 
of which lies west, and part north of Chur, and contains two 
cities and eleven villages, among which are scattered fifteen 
thousand people, being one-sixth of the whole population of the 
canton. Here are produced the best wines of eastern Switzer- 
land, and fruits which one sees everywhere prepared and drymg 
in the sun. In agriculture there has been very Uttle progress. 
They still use the implements of the middle ages, and in this one 
valley, harness the cows by their heads, while in all other parts' 
of Switzerland the yoke is placed upon the animals' necks. Xow 
and then something is done towards u'rigation ; and canals have 
been cut, w^hich are rented for a few sous an hour to any one 
who will avail themselves of the privilege. 

Haying is done first in the villages, and then upon the mount- 
ains, w^hen all the inhabitants are seen wending their way up the 
acclivities with scythes and rakes, men, women, and children, 
leaving only a few to keep watch below. Every spire of grass is 
shaven from the knolls, and every herb and green thing gathered 
for the winter food of the cows, who after all sometimes do not 
have enough, and when the owners have taken all the pains in 
their power to preserve them, are yet compelled to see them 
starve, without the possibility of saving them. Many are sent 
to the Canton St. Gall to hoard, where they are received into 
comfortable stables, furnished with enough to eat, and excellent 
care, for fifty cents a week, which is getting boarded' very cheap, 
we think. 



GKATJBUNDEN. 323 

Not far from Mayenfield, on a dizzy height, is the Church of 
St. Lucius, where they have service eveiy year once, on Ascen- 
sion day, and a rural fete. A little to the right is the village 
of Guschen, where the people have not changed in any custom 
for ages. But a few years since, the larger portion of them 
emigrated to America, and we doubt not founded one of the 
many Goshens for which America is famous ; and where they 
will certainly be clean, at least for a httle time, for the " old 
family " dust gets shaken from almost everybody there. 

Reichnau stands at the junction of the two branches of the 
Rhine ; and here we must relate what every traveller has 
related before us for half a century, that the school, which had 
not been long founded, was in 1193 one day visited by a lone 
traveller, who presented a letter to the principal, which procured 
him a gracious reception, and the appointment of Professor of 
French and Mathematics. This lone traveller was Louis 
Philippe, then Duke of Chartres. He remained eight months, 
under the name of Chahot, and in 1854, his Queen, Amelia, 
visited the castle, and wrote in the album, '^ Marie Amelie, wife 
of Professor Chalot^ the most leautiful of titles /" Whilst here, 
he heard of his father's death on the scaffold, and the exile of 
his mother. 

One would think France must be ever the true friend of 
Switzerland, she has been so often the home of her exiles and 
the asylum of her fugitives ! 

In the valley of the Domlesch we count twenty-two villages 
and twenty-one castles in the course of sixteen miles ; and here, 
more than in any other part of Graubiinden, appears the curious 
alternation and intermixture of languages and religions. At 
Coire the language is German, and the religion Protestant ; at 
the next village, Komanish ; at the two next, they speak Ger- 



324 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

man, but are Catholics ; a little farther on, Romanish is the 
language, and the rehgion Catholic ; then two villages where 
the religion of both is Catholic, but the language of one Ger- 
man and of the other Romanish ; then several where they are 
Protestant and German ; then several where they are Protes- 
tant and Romanish. 

Our postilion speaks these two and Italian, and uses one or 
the other without cessation ; and in the hotels we hear, in 
addition, French and English. For a little time we are left 
alone in the diligence with a young girl who speaks only Italian, 
and who is very much inclined to talk. Her dress is dreadfully 
'' tattered and torn," and her countenance not less forlorn ; and 
she seems not to have seen in her Ufe a toilette that was better 
than her own, judging by the admiration she bestowed upon 
ours, which would have excited only the contempt of most fine 
ladies, being tr^s ordinaire. She asks if we are Eenglish ; and as 
fast as she can speak, adds one question or rem-ark after the 
other : " Have got you any father — any mother — any brothers 
and sisters — where do you live — where are you going — what a 
pretty bonnet — what a fine ribbon — what do you call this (tak- 
ing hold of our cloak) — and this, and this ?" and then she 
pouted her full lips and looked down at her rags. She had on 
no bonnet or shawl, yet carried a well-filled purse. We asked 
her also where she was going, and if she had a mother. She 
answered as rapidly as she had asked questions, and said, '' I've 
got a father and a mother — ^brothers and sisters — and a grand- 
mother. I'm going home — I live in the Bernardin — I hate that 
postilion." And alluding to a gentleman who had stepped out 
to walk, she said, in her own language, '' Bumpf ein Teufel/' 
and pouted her lips again. She was not more than sixteen, and 
was evidently in trouble, to which she was not very resigned. 



GEAUBUNDEN. 325 

Seeing a woman spinning on a little wheel before a door, we 
asked her if she could spin. '' Yes, I can spin, and sew and 
braid straw. Yes, I can ; why not ? can you ?" 

At Spltigen she takes another road, but first bids us farewell 
very pleasantly, and says she shall not reach home till the next 
morning, and does not appear particularly rejoiced at reaching 
it at all. 

She seemed to fully appreciate the scenery of the Via Mala ; 
but when we read over a bridge the inscription, which was 
placed there just before the great road was opened to travellers, 
we thought it might have been dispensed with. It says, " The 
road is to be opened to friends and enemies. Rhetians, be upon 
your guard ! SimpUcity of manners and unity alone will secure 
your liberties, the inheritance of your fathers." They are alto- 
gether too tenacious of what they call " simplicity ;" and think 
it is preserving the principles of their ancestors to live in all 
respects as they lived at a time when there was no other way. 

In the three remaining valleys of the Rhine there are only six 
villages, and in them all only fourteen hundred inhabitants, all 
of whom are descendants of regiments of Germans who were 
sent there in the middle ages. Those who first came would find 
very httle to surprise them or excite their wonder if they should 
return. 

In the documents of 1211 they are called the free jpeojpk, and 
were set as the watchmen to guard the mountain passes. They 
have preserved their language, and changed very little in life or 
manners. 

But we are lingering too long by the way, and must make a 
leap now and then, or we shall not see half the valleys. 

We will take a seat under the chestnuts that form a shady 
grove near Castasagna. How changed the scene I It is Sun- 



326 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

day afternoon, and all have been to church, but now, in the 
eool of the day, gather together in nature's temple. Stone 
tables are placed around, and those who sit by them are furn- 
ished with wine, bread, cheese, and sausage ; there is also whey 
and goat's milk. The grottoes in the side of the hill have been 
converted into wine cellars, and are well filled. There are no 
glasses, but large earthen krugs, which are passed from one to 
the other. The cheese is from the Oler Engadine, where they 
profess to rival the Gruyere. 

There is also a parsonage tun, that the family of the pastor 
may enjoy with them the familiar hour. When the meal is fin- 
ished, groups are formed for conversation ; old men to talk of 
the times, and young men and maidens to plan for the future. 
There is great freedom, but all is orderly though a very Babel 
of tongues. 

They are famous in Graubiinden for travelling into other 
lands to trade, to practise some mechanical art, or to sell knick- 
knacks ; and when they have made what is considered a fortune 
in their native village, to return, and build a fine house, and 
enjoy the old life. So here they are, one who has frozen in 
Kussia, another who has burnt beneath a tropical sun, some who 
have gathered treasures in Brazil, and another who relates his 
adventures in Poland. How eagerly the beardless boy Hstens 
to the marvellous tales ; and one can read on his face, " Oh, 
yes, as soon as I have learned the catechism I too will go out 
in the world." Yery few are allowed to go till they have been 
confirmed. 

There is a brown and weather-beaten man, who went away 
as a boy, and though he has been in many lands he looks at 
the pretty maiden opposite as if he were thinking, " Ko where 
else have I seen any so beautiful." This perhaps is true ; for 



GRAUBUNDEN. 327 

the maidens of Castasagna are of a peculiar beauty, and though 
they carry burdens and perform the severest labour, they remain 
longer youthful than in many other districts, where similar toils 
so early remove every trace of youth and bloom ; they are 
graceful, and in their fanciful costume a picturesque feature of 
their land. 

It is on the Italian borders and has an Italian clime ; the 
lizards are sunning themselves upon the trees, and the scorpion 
hides his head in the wall. The luxurious fruits and flowers of 
the tropics add their golden hues to the scene ; yet only a few 
steps farther, beyond the last chestnut-tree, are eternal snows, and 
a little farther up the valley is the village of Bondo, into which 
not a ray of the sun penetrates during three whole winter 
months. 

Castasagna is the last town on the borders between Switzer- 
land and Lombardy ; and as its name indicates, it is surrounded 
by groves of chestnuts. It is in the valley of the Begraglia, 
which extends a few miles into Austria, or, as it must now be 
called, Sardinian or Lombardian, territory. Its population is 
twenty-three thousand, of which three-fifths are women, and they 
say, of course, many are unmarried, because the men emigrate in 
such numbers. Another remarkable fact concerning the same 
valley is, that it is the only one where the language is Italian 
and the religion Protestant. 

The church in Castasagna is the largest in Switzerland, because 
it was built in 1100 to accommodate those in Lombardy who 
were not allowed to " worship according to the dictates of their 
own consciences " on their own soil. The service is very plea- 
santly commenced by twenty or thirty young girls forming a 
circle around the baptismal font, with as many young men behind 
them, to sing either a hymn or some rhyming verses from the 



328 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

Psalms of David. When they have finished, they take their 
seats, and the ceremony of baptism is performed. The father 
comes with a relation who carries the child, attended by five 
godfathers, the oldest of whom holds the infant, giving the name 
in writing to the clergyman. The congregation sit till the prayer 
begins, when all rise and bow their heads. The sermon follows, 
by a German, who preaches in bad Italian. 

In the afternoon the children are catechised by the clergyman, 
who stands by the font whilst they are seated in front, and 
answer singly and in concert, after which each one is conversed 
with in a familiar friendly manner. The exercise closes by 
singing " Psalms and spiritual songs," not artistically, as they 
have no teacher, but in a way to cheer the heart. 

The houses are of stone, many of them white and pretty. All 
through the Rhine valley the patches of maize were to be seen, 
and the farther south we go, the more extensively it is cultivated. 
Polenta is theu' daily hread, and roasted chestnuts, which they eat 
with butter and salt, or with cheese, or with oil, or without 
anything, enter into all the compounds of their cookery. If they 
roast meat, the filling is of chestnuts, and if they fry it or boil 
it, chestnuts are in some way made to serve as a sauce. They 
know how to cook rice and macaroni, and fully appreciate the 
virtues of buttermilk, which stands about like water for a com- 
mon drink. They also have cherry water, and wine that has ex- 
perienced all the vicissitudes of a century. 

Next we will visit the Munsterthal in the southeastern part 
on the Tyrolese border. Those who only go in thought will 
have no anxiety about bears and wolves, or frightful precipices, 
to be encountered by the way ; and those who live here know 
almost as little, for they are shut in from all the world by gla- 
ciers, bold cHfife, and wild forest streams. They say, in order to 



GKAUBUNDEN. 329 

see their next neighbours in the Engadine, they must go eight 
hours up, and descend as many, which is not often done. 

The name is derived from Mestair, a convent for women of the 
Benedictine order, hke so many others, " founded by Charle- 
magne." The valley was long the bone of contention between 
Austria and the bishops of Cou'e, but since the eighteenth cen- 
tury the people have bought themselves free from all pretenders. 
Except one parish they are Protestants, and their language 
Romanish. 

They are mostly shepherds, too, and like all shepherds, deci- 
dedly opposed to ianovation. Their ambition is limited to seeing 
the barn full of hay, the granary full of corn, and the cattle in 
good condition. Their whole hfe is still ordered- after the most 
patriarchal fashion, and to help one another is not less the rule 
than to take care of themselves. If a new barn or granary is 
to be built, the peasant collects his materials and all the village 
men come to his aid. Each one knows the use of hammer and 
axe, and the wood costs very little, being cut in the forests and 
transported on sleds. The helpers take their breakfast and sup- 
per at home, but the dinner is furnished them, and consists of 
bread, and milk, and cheese. Two days are usually sufficient 
for the prmcipal construction, or if not, a few come the third, 
and are invited to stay to supper, which is luxurious for the 
occasion — soup, meat, rice, and chestnuts. 

In the country where they grow, chestnuts are to the people 
what potatoes are in the more northern climes, and in the 
autumn, from the middle of October to the end of November, 
the women and children are employed in gathering them, each 
family storing often one hundred dollars' worth. 

Tlie fattening of snails is also another industry upon the 
Italian borders for those who have so many fast days and still 



330 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

wish abundance of nourishing food. They are placed in an 
enclosure upon beds of sawdust, with water not far off, and fed 
with leaves till their shells are thick, when they are ready for 
packing. From sixteen to twenty weigh a pound, and each 
pound is sold for two or three sous, to be retailed in Italy at one 
sous and a half a snail. The trade in crabs and frogs is not so 
profitable. 

All winter the spinnmg rooms are in a buzz ; and in the 
spring the scene is the same as in every Alpine land. The pas- 
tures belong to the communes, and the rents go into the common 
purse. In summer the women are almost the only inhabitants 
of the villages, and their toil within and without is very severe. 

But in September, when the herds come back to the valleys, 
there is great rejoicing. The bailiff of the commune attends to 
the adjusting of the scales in the Sennhut. On the morning of 
the day appointed, he mounts to the pastoral counting-room, 
where all concerned in his operations have assembled by dawn 
of day ; and immediately the storehouse is opened, and the con- 
tents, which have been for three months accumulating, are 
brought out — fat cheeses and meagre cheeses, and cheeses of 
all sizes and names, with great tubs and balls of butter. Forth- 
with commences such a weighing and reckoning, after the old 
style and new, as if all the world were to be portioned. When 
this is finished, they are heaped upon the wagons and sleds 
which are to transport them to the regions below. But the 
train is not set in motion till after dinner, which consists of 
bread and milk, whey and sausages. 

From a flagstaff mounted upon the largest wagon floats a gay 
banner, not exactly like those woven in the looms of Basle and 
Zurich, being, not a coat, but a shawl, of "many colours," 
which some sugar-baker or , cofiee-buyer has purchased in Italy 



GRAUBDNDEN. 331 

and brought home to his frau. There is no defect in its flutter, 
and it answers all the purposes for which it is designed, and is 
called a flag. 

Every animate and inanhnate thing is wreathed with ever- 
greens and roses, and the long train moves slowly on, " with 
song and shout, and festive mirth." When it arrives at a de- 
signated spot, all is suddenly still — not a whisper is heard. The 
men bare their heads, and all fold their hands, and from every 
heart go up the silent thanksgivings to God, who dw^elleth in 
the Alps, and crowns mountain and valley with his blessings. 
This is the custom handed down from time immemorial — this is 
the w^ay their fathers did. 

Before arriving at the village, two fiddlers place themselves at 
the head of the train, and thus with their music marshal them 
into town, where on the market-place they halt, and the wine 
cans are brought, which soon show theii* influence in the songs 
and merriment, which, however, do not last so long that the 
cheese and butter are not deposited in the several cellars to 
which they are destined, and, in accordance with the pride of 
Miinsterthaler, before the last year's store is quite exhausted. 

At funerals they have no singing, because they say, "songs 
are for joy." There is usually a feast in the room of the corpse, 
while a few remain in the meantime apart to weep and wail. 
The coffin is covered with wreaths, and before it is carried to 
the grave addresses are made, when theological students make 
their first attempts at exhortation. After burial there is ser- 
vice in church, to which the wreaths from the coffin are trans- 
ported. 

The Mtgang is called in Graubtinden hengertgehen, and there 
exists a law prohibiting the custom, yet it remains. But it is 
no longer respectable for the visits to be made in a dark room ; 



332 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

the maiden must not only have a light, but an extra candle, 
with the wick saturated with some ignitible substance, so that it 
can be easily lighted if an awkward lover snuffs out the other I 
The curtains must not be drawn, and the door not closed. 
Often, if they see a room dark where they know there is a 
wooer, boys enter unceremoniously, and duck him in the fountain. 

Pigmies are called in some places dialas, in others " wild peo- 
ple," and '^ mountain-men ;" and here, as elsewhere, they are 
believed to make cheese of chamois milk, which are cut and 
partly eaten, and grow again. They supply the hungry with 
food, and restore lost children whom they find in the woods. 

But there is also a higher trust than this. An old lady lived 
by a wild mountain stream, and built a dam for the protection 
of her cottage and little vegetable patch. But the people 
laughed, and said, " The first rain will wash it away." The 
rain came, and many which men had built, and which were 
large and strong, disappeared in the flood, but the little struc- 
ture of the 'widow remained, and she said, " God despises not 
the prayer of the poor when they call unto Him." 

Union dairies are formed to make cheese of goats' milk ; for 
in the Mtinsterthal they keep great herds, which are driven home 
every evening, and to the hills every morning. On Johannistag 
all the young people go with white pails to meet the goatherd 
as he returns to the village, and skipping from goat to goat, rob 
them of all the milk, which the maidens sell to buy a dress for 
the ball. The scolding among the frauen is as amusing as the 
singing among the maidens, when they find how they have been 
robbed, but there is no help. 

Formerly slander was punished by clipping the tongue, and 
murder and adultery with death ; and whoever set a house on 
fire, or pa,ssed counterfeit money, was burnt to ashes. 



GRATJBCNDEN. 333 

Proverbs, like " Love and beefsteak," are the same in all lan- 
guages. " Slow and sure," " Lies have short legs," " Poverty- 
is no shame," " Choose a wife and a cow from the neighbour- 
hood," etc., are in all mouths, whether they speak English, Ger- 
man, or Komanish. 

We must skip over the Engadine, scarcely stopping to 
shake hands by the way. They are a comfortable-looking peo- 
ple, very few of them poor, and not a beggar to be seen. They 
are all zealous Protestants, ten thousand in number, except two 
villages ; and preserve still old Bibles and Prayer-books as heir- 
looms, on the margins of which are recorded the martyrdoms of 
the period of the Reformation. They have a proverb, that next 
to God and the sun, the sunple citizen of the Engadine is 
supreme. They live among the mountains, where another pro- 
verb, says, they have nine months' winter and three months' 
cold. Snow often falls in mid-summer, covering the valleys, 
without being attended by a white frost ; yet it freezes every 
week of the year. Seven thousand feet above the sea are pretty 
villages, though usually at this height are only chalets. The 
houses are better than elsewhere, because they must make them 
very tight and warm. The great doors are something like those 
in North Germany, broad enough for a carriage to enter and 
pass through to the stable beyond. On the side of this hall are 
the dweUing-rooms, often very neatly finished with a pecuhar 
wood, having some resemblance to curly maple, being full of 
little knots. They saturate it with a preparation of rosin, which 
gives it a shining appearance, and is very agreeable to human 
beings and very repulsive to vermin, and therefore commendable 
for all purposes. The windows are very small, and set deep into 
the walls, which are of stone ; and often are seen pillars and 
pretty corridors. These are strange things among Alpine pas- 



334: THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

tures ; but the men of these valleys are the Swiss to be seen in 
all lands, engaged in every conceivable employment ; but who 
return with their money to enrich their own valley. Many vil- 
lages see in this way their property increased twenty-five or 
thirty thousand dollars' worth. They always reckon in Grau- 
btinden "the home and foreign resources or industry ;" and at 
the last census ten thousand were found absent from the canton 
in this way, never resigning their citizenship. Their pastures 
are rented to Italian shepherds, and the little haying and har- 
vesting is done by the Tyrolese. 

The air is so pure that meat will keep many years ; and fish 
and flesh are hung to dry in the sun from May till October. 

The language is Romanish ; but the wanderers return with 
all the languages of every nation under heaven. 

Another Graubflnden proverb is, " One God, one coatp and 
there is scarcely more in their costume — woollen coats, shirts 
and stockings all the year, where it is cold ; and in the Italian 
villages, often bare feet and legs, with great straw hats, and 
the women in many colours, and ornaments in their braided 
hair. 

One of the peculiar features of Graubunden is remarked in the 
gallows, which are seen on conspicuous heights overlooking the 
most beautiful landscapes, as if to make the parting as painful 
as possible to those who were to enjoy from them their last view 
of earth. They are built very strong, of stone, not poor wooden 
gallows by any means, to perish quickly from the earth, but aa 
if to endure for ever. To this a good pastor of Engadine once 
made allusion when, according to the custom, he was called to 
consecrate a new one to the holy purpose for which it was built. 
In his prayer he said, in most emphatic terms, " This gallows, 
which we erect for our children and children's children :" but we 



GRAUBUNDEN. 335 

hope without ever realizing its blessings in himself or pos- 
terity. 

The valley of Davos was discovered in the thirteenth century 
by some hunters of the land of Vatz, who returned with a glow- 
ing description of its beauties, of the game in the forests, and 
fish in the seas, which induced his lordship who lived in the vale 
of Disentis to send people to colonize the new land, and take 
possession of it in his name. 

Those who came are said to have been descendants of German 
Yallasians ; and the document which secured to them their 
rights is dated 1289, and calls them /ree men, who were only to 
pay a certain rent to him who aided them to come, in " cheese, 
cloth, and pigs." The lease was to be good so long as the rent 
was paid, and they owed no other allegiance. Not a castle 
ever crowned their hills ; not a lord ever set foot upon their 
soil. 

In the other cantons we often hear Graubtinden spoken of as 
the land where boys are kings, or where boys rule, alluding to 
the early period at which they are allowed to vote and hold 
oflBce. Formerly it was at fourteen years of age, but now it is 
at sixteen, that they ex^'cise the right of suffrage, and are held 
to military service ; but they cannot be elected to office till 
twenty. 

There are no direct taxes, and no very heavy ones of any 
sort. ; but the restrictions are very numerous to prevent the in- 
gress of foreigners. No Jew, not born in the canton, is allowed 
to enter it ; and the law is not allowed to grant them the 
privilege. At the last census there was found to be only one 
residing among them. 

The administration of local affairs differs in different places. 
In Davos the statute-books exhibit curious enactments, similar 



836 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

to those of the same time m northern Switzerland and Ger- 
many. 

The old chronicle describes the valley as "lovely, healthy, 
with fish, flesh, and game, flying and swimming •/' and if there 
was a great hunt, every able-bodied man was^ obliged to go. 
The trophies of these excursions are still preserved in the 
saloon of the old Rathhouse in the form of long rows of skulls 
of wolves and bears. 

If any one pulled out the beard of another, he was obliged 
to pay four gulden ; and in an old law-book in Austria, the 
penalty for the same crime was twelve gulden. This we have 
found in other cantons, proving that it must have been a com- 
mon offence, though for what purpose it was committed one can- 
not imagine. 

The Kirchweih, or Kilhe, was held at market-time in spring 
and fall, and was made known by a solemn proclamation by the 
Landweibel, saying, *' My gracious lords, the mayor and council 
of this county of Davos command me to make known," etc. 
Whoever shall be guilty, during this festival, of gaming, dancing, 
oaths, or blasphemy, shall be fined a hundred dollars. He who 
cannot pay the fine will be otherwise punished. 

In 168t -dancing was forbidden, as " seducing, frivolous, and 
injurious ;" but now they may dance in all Graubtinden to their 
heart's content. 

Whoever knew of an instance of breaking the peace, either 
by an offence against himself or others, was bound to inform 
the Government, that the offender might be punished at the 
next court ; but no one was obliged to inform against blood 
relatives or relatives at law. Also the mayor, jury, and other 
officers were . required to make known before the high court 
all that they had seen or heard contrary to law, only re- 



GEA.UBUNDEN. 337 

latives to the third degree not included. This was upon the 
principle that each individual, as integral part of the whole, 
should care for the good of the whole. 

All were not only excused from informing against relatives, but 
were bound to stand by them " with honour, body, and goods," 

Also in criminal cases no one was obliged to testify against 
relatives. The criminal court consisting of judge, lawyers, and 
other officers, was held in the open air. They were seated 
around a table, on which was laid a naked sword and staff of 
justice. The seat of the judge was a little raised, and the 
secretary occupied a place near him with documents. 

The prisoner was conducted from the prison by the Land- 
weibd and six watchmen or guard, and placed before him. 
When all was arranged, the mayor solemnly and earnestly 
addressed the court as follows, " Highly respected, noble, 
austere, true, honourable, prudent, wise, especially gracious, 
highly honoured, merciful rulers, lords and magistrates, com- 
manded by the holy Bible and the freedom God has given our 
land, which is dependent on no foreign king, prince, or poten- 
tate, to secure the prisoner IN". N., and appoint a day for his 
trial, we have set apart this day," etc. Here follow various 
formalities common in ordinary courts. 

The judge then turns to the jury, and says, ''Under these 
considerations I ask, if this be the time and hour, when I, as 
chief justice of this county, in the name of all present, shall 
take sword and staff in hand, and sit in judgment upon the 
prisoner according to imperial law and the ordinances of our 
free land ?" * All answer, " Yes." 

* Law and oflBcial terms in Switzerland are very difficult to translate, as they are 
difiFerent from those used by Germans, and as unintelligible to them as to those of any 
other nation, unless it be lawyers. 

15 



338 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The secretary sits at the right, and on all occasions is the 
accuser, because he is also treasurer, and i;he penalties are very 
often fines, which are deposited with him. 

Yarious addresses are made by the counsel for the State and 
for the prisoner, and judgment is found. But before it is pro- 
nounced, the judge asks if any one, man or woman, old or 
young, spiritual or worldly, has anything to say why favour 
should be shown. 

If the punishment is to be death, the executioner is instructed 
by which form life is to be taken ; whether he shall conduct the 
criminal from life to death by fire, and give his ashes to water, 
air, or earth ; whether he shall be broken on the wheel, or 
whether the wheel shall pass over his neck, etc. The judge then 
takes the staff, and followed by the court watchmen or guard, 
the executioner and criminal proceed to the place appointed for 
the death scene. 

The last sad office we need not describe ; when it is finished, 
he who has performed it asks the judge if he has fulfilled the 
duties of his ofl&ce according to imperial law and just usages. 
He answers " Yes." The judge then asks the other officials, 
"If he has found judgment according to imperial law and just 
usages ?" " Yes." " If all concerned have acted according to 
the dictates of mercy and honour ?" " Yes." Then the judge 
says solemnly, *' With God we leave his soul !" and breaks the 
staff. The mayor then makes a solemn address to the people 
assembled, exhorting the parents to bring up their children in 
the fear of God and in prayer and industry ; to keep them from 
quarrels, idleness, profanity, and all vices ; exhorts the children 
to obedience, and quotes many texts from the Bible, etc., and 
all return home. 

It was contrary to common custom to break the staff after 



GRAUBITNDEN. 339 

the full execution, and entirely out of order to repeat continually, 
" according to imperial law," as they had never acknowledged 
emperor or king as lawgiver. But their statutes and formulas 
were probably prepared by some one who knew little of juris- 
prudence, and that little obtained from German codes of 
Charles Y., which were the basis of all criminal proceedings in 
Germany. 




CHAPTER XXI. 



ARGOYIE. 



ROMAN CITY — CONVENTS— ^QUARRKLS — JEWS — DARK DAYS OP OLD SCHOOLS 

THREE CANTONAL DIVISIONS — HOMELESS PEOPLE PEASANT DINNER 

FESTIVALS. 



Though there are traces of the Romans in every canton, in none 
have been found so many illustrations, not only of their power, 
but of their wealth, their life, and their art, as in Argovie. 
There was the centre of all their operations against Germany, 
and the entrepdt of their arms and commerce. This is the only 
place we ever heard of where an aqueduct which they built was 
preserved through all ages and used in modern times. It con- 
ducts the water from Mount Brunneck into the city of Yen- 
dinassa, in the same way and for the same purposes as when the 
famous legions had here their encampment. In tlie same city 
are the ruins of an amphitheatre, where have been found the 
bones of the animals who fought in the arena. 

In another city is an inscription to the honour of Tespasian ; 
and bricks have been picked up having upon them the names 
and numbers of different legions, coins having the effigy of 
Lucila, the daughter of Aurelius, mosaics and fresco paintings, 



UQ 



ARGOVIE. 341 

marble vases, pictures and shell work, medals and monies in- 
numerable. !N"ear Zofingen ^Yas found a parquet, six hundred 
and twenty feet square, of beautiful mosaic, the Roman thermes, 
and a vase of alabaster. In many places are found the ruins of 
baths, castles, and camps, showing that here was almost another 
Rome; and the proofs are not less striking that it was plundered 
by Attila, and destroyed by Childebert. But why were they 
called barbarians? Because they pursued their enemies, and 
demolished their strongholds ? How long since the two " most 
enlightened nations of Christendom " did the same ? using more 
deadly weapons, and followed by more inhuman consequences, and 
then offering Te Deums to the Grod of the Bible for their success ! 

The Ambrons, one of the four tribes of Helvetia, were the first 
known inhabitants of Argovie, and became incorporated with 
the hordes who came down from the north. The territory 
was afterwards disputed between Suabia and Burgundia ; and 
in the course of those disputes and conquests, the Dukes of 
Hapsburg, originally a noble family in Alsatia, became estab- 
lished in the land. The many convents which dot the hills, and 
were ^the cause of the war of the Sonderhund in 184Y, were 
built by the princes of this house, and the long wars with the 
brave men of the forest cantons were in resistance to their unjust 
pretensions. 

A single tower alone remams of the proud castle which was 
the cradle of the Imperial House of Austria. The convents, though 
truly Christian and benevolent institutions in their day, becoming- 
strongholds of misrule and usurpers of unjust power, were sup- 
pressed by the Federal Government, and the property consecrat- 
ed to puiposes more in accordance with modern benevolence. 
Three for women still exist, but v>4th many of the features of 
ancient nunneries modified. 



342 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The disputes between the two religions in the time of the Re- 
formation were particularly stormy in Argovie ; the French 
revolution kept them long in a turmoil, and not till 1852 did they 
succeed in forming a constitution upon a truly republican basis, 
when all these conflicting elements settled into harmony. 

But they seem to have a peculiar predisposition to disputes. 
As in Schaffhausen, they improve the slightest pretence for a quar- 
rel and especially for a lawsuit. The wit of a peasant has become 
proverbial, who, being asked how it had prospered with him the 
last year, answered, " Oh, thank God, very well ; we have the 
means to live and a little remaining, enough to give us the 
amusement of a lawsuit during the winter !" This same delight 
in lawsuits prevails also in Tessin, while in Unterwald and Can- 
ton Yaud they will manage any way to settle a dispute rather 
than have the trouble of lawyers. Yet Schaflfhausen and 
Argovie are at the extreme north, and Tessin at the extreme 
south of the confederacy. 

Half the number of Jews in all Switzerland dwell in this can- 
ton, though she is the most illiberal in her policy towards them. 
No foreign Jew is allowed to enter, and the natives are confined 
to two or three villages, not allowed the privilege of citizenship, 
and subject to various restrictions which limit their means and 
must embitter their spirit. 

The Protestants are some twenty thousand more than the 
Catholics ; but they have learned to live in harmony, so that 
often the same church serves both confessions. But before this 
pleasant state of things was consummated, in which people 
agree to disagree, both parties passed through many fiery trials, 
and were subjected to all the troubles of those days of lawless 
violence. 

The ministers of the reformed Church seldom displayed their 



AKGOVIE. 343 

wisdom in attempting to charm their hearers, instead of endea- 
voring to compel them to adopt the new faith. 

It is related in the chronicles of one village, that the unruly 
youths, not liking the restraints to which they were likely to be 
subjected by the pastor of the new doctrine, met stealthily in the 
night and tore away his grape-vines and pulled up the stakes, so 
that it cost ninety-three dollars and seventy-five cents to reset 
them. They destroyed seventy-five bundles of hemp, and stole 
four thalers' worth of rosemary after it had been already sold, 
but not removed by the purchaser ; and filled the well with 
manure, so that the family were all made sick from drinking 
the water. At another time, in Passion Week, they stole the 
fishes from the well, carried off twenty fowls, and poisoned the 
watchdogs before the door. 

In another place, dancing having been forbidden, before peo- 
ple could at all understand why or wherefore, the young men and 
maidens met in the forest in the night for this purpose. The 
good pastor severely reproved them, and was rewarded by hav- 
ing his orchard destroyed and his garden sown with weeds. 
The people restored them again, but only to see them more 
thoroughly despoiled, the young trees all torn up and the 
hedges burnt. 

Two school teachers, who took the part of the pastor, were 
treated in a similar manner, and beaten on their way to school. 
One of them being a musician, found, when he attempted 
to blow his trumpet or similar wind instrument in church on 
Sunday, that it was filled with mud. Those and similar perse- 
cutions were continued, till all were obliged to leave. 

These were the events of nearly two centuries ago, Now no 
canton exhibits the evidences of more universal cultivation than 
Argovie. Her school system is among the best, both for the 



344 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

education of children and the higher classes m the district and 
cantonal schools, and there are in all the large villages evening 
classes for those who are employed during the day. 

The people are distinguished for their progress both in manu- 
factures and agriculture. As in Zurich and St. Gall, the two go 
hand in hand, and those who braid straw, weave ribbons, and spin 
cotton, devote also a portion of their tune to the soil or kindred 
employments. The houses of the higher and middle classes are 
everywhere pretty, in the midst of beautiful gardens, groves, and 
orchards. When we marvel at the number of fine trees in every 
village, by every wayside, we are told of a curious law enacted in 
1806, which made it incumbent upon every man at his marriage 
to plant six trees, and at the birth of every son two more. 
Thus from twelve to fifteen thousand were planted every year. 

The general features of agriculture are the same as in Zurich, 
and the Impulse it received, and the improvements made, date to 
the Napoleonic period, when restrictions were removed, and 
tithes were aboHshed, which gave the profits to the labourer, 
and enabled him to improve his own material condition. 

If there is one thing in which the Argovian takes particular 
pride, and in which he particularly excels, it is in the care of his 
cattle. They are elephants in size, and their glossy hides beto- 
ken some peculiar art on the part of their master. Not a particle 
of dust or straw is allowed to cling to them, and they are combed 
and washed as only horses are elsewhere, not with a currycomb, 
but with old cards, which, being finer and softer, are more 
agreeable to the animal, and improve the fineness of the hair. 
This receives an additional lustre by being rubbed with old flan- 
nel. They actually shine ; and the gentle creatures have an 
evident consciousness of their beauty, for they are careful not to 
soil then- ashy grey and chestnut robes by lying in the mud when 



ABGOVIE. 345 

allowed to take a walk. Animals can acquire, if they have not 
by nature, a fine sensibility, and when they have once experienced 
the pleasant sensation of cleanliness, learn to take care of them- 
selves. 

At the farther end of every stable is a goat, who lives upon 
what the cows scatter about, and who is kept there also because 
the peasants believe if witches are disposed to exert any evil 
influence within their precincts, the little animal will prove a sort 
of smpe-goaf, and their beautiful cows pass unharmed. 

Not only do they exercise this care for the person of the ani- 
mal, but are at the pains of removing every feather and other 
unpalatable substance from their food ; and the water-troughs 
where they drink are kept as clean as if human beings resorted 
to them. 

If anybody doubts the efficacy of these means, let him come 
and see not only how large, but how intelhgent, these dumb 
creatures look ; how they watch every motion of those who talk 
to them, and listen to all they say. What an affectionate moan 
they will utter to welcome the milkers, who are always men, as 
they say, ''Women tickle the cow, and never take all the milk 
from the udders, so that she gives less and less." It is said of 
them, that an Argovian will send for the doctor for his cow a 
great deal quicker than for his wife ! but we did not see any 
evidence that he was not sufficiently attentive to both. 

Alas, were it not for the eau de vie, the distilleries everywhere 
in Switzerland, the people might be transformed almost instan- 
taneously into inhabitants of an Utopia. This is their besetting 
sin, the one remaining curse, the bhght and plague-spot of the 
land. They have attempted to make a law in Berne, where 
this evil is greatest, that the grain which is needed for bread 
shall not be converted into brandy. But the people consider it 

15* 



34:6 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

an invasion of rights and privileges that they should not be 
allowed to do what they please with their own, though it be to 
commit suicide and murder. 

The thl'ee grand rivers, the Keuss, the Limmat, and the Aar, 
unite in Canton Argovie, and flow on together to the Rhine, 
which they join near Coblentz, a little town on its northernmost 
limits. By these four distinct divisions are made, which are 
indicated by the peculiar lines upon their escutcheon. The first 
is vertical, dividing it into two fields, the one black, denoting a 
fruitful land, like Argau proper. Through this crosswise a sil- 
ver stream flows. The other field is blue, and three stars in its 
centre indicate the other three divisions. It is one of the preti- 
est among the cantons. 

These divisions mark also a people quite distinct from one 
another. In the Fruckthal, where they belonged so long to 
Austria, not being fairly ceded to Switzerland till 1802, they 
have not yet become enth-ely Swiss in feeling.^ The dress of the 
maidens is like that in the Black Forest, while in all the rest of 
Argovie it is like the Bernese. In all the canton, too, they 
have the old German custom of watchmen, who traverse the 
streets every hour of the night, and cry, " Listen to my words, 
it is the hour. Extinguish the fires, and may God have us in 
his holy keeping." 

There is everywhere in Switzerland a class of people whom 
they call heimathlos, or homeless people, by which they mean 
those who do not enjoy all, or any, of the rights of citizenship. 
In Argovie, not only the Jews belong to this class, but those 
who transact business and live in the canton without purchasing 
citizenship, soldiers who have formed acquaintance with Swiss in 
foreign service, and return with them fugitives and pilgrims. Of 
these last there are very many, as Argovie is the highway to 



ARGOVIE. 347 

Einsiedeln, for those who come from Germany ; and poor and 
miserable as they are, it is said they spend by the way in this 
canton alone upwards of five hundred thousand dollars. Many 
women are in their train, who come with a cradle upon their 
shoulders, and leave the little ones in sheds and barns, and 
sometimes in the open field, where they are picked up by the 
inhabitants and taken good care of, but still are classed all their 
lives among the homeless, because they were not born upan the 
soil. They may have a ri^ht to vote in village affairs, but not 
in cantonal. 

Besides, there are many who are not admitted to the ordi- 
nary privileges of villagers, never having been able to pay the 
hundred dollars necessary to purchase citizenship, and who can- 
not marry till they do. They are often very poor and vicious, 
and it is considered a reproach upon the constitution of Argovie 
that she is thus illiberal to so many. 

The old-fashioned houses, and those of the poor, are still very 
comfortless, but the modern ones are ample and commodious. 
Among the farmers, granary, threshing-floor, and family are 
under the same roof, which has the great gable end extending 
out many feet to act as protector to the ploughs, harrows, and 
other utensils which are stored underneath, and which makes 
the rooms very dark, but adds to their warmth in winter. 

The spout of clear running water is making music in front of 
every door, which is a luxury not so difl&cult to obtain in Swit- 
zerland, as they have only to dig a few feet to find a spring, 
which never fails. Under the windows is usually a bench, where 
the neighbours meet to gossip, and a " beehive humming near." 

The garden is fenced around, and the beds are in squares, 
measured, as we have seen them a thousand times in New Eng- 
land, by a man who winds a rope upon a long wooden peg, and 



348 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

tying the other to a sunilar one, places it firmly in the earth, 
and going to the other end makes a straight line, and then with 
a hoe smooths the earth against the rope, forming a pretty bor- 
der. With the hoe-handle he makes a furrow for the flower 
seeds, which are distributed according to the taste of some fair 
lady who stands by to superintend. In a few weeks tulips and 
Toses and lupins are blooming, as rehef to cabbages, beets, and 
parsnips, and in the autumn the bright marigolds and queenly 
dahlias appear in a luxuriance we never saw in any land. 

The beet beds are a speciaUty in Argovie, and are kept in 
J roducing order the whole summer. The good frauen have also 
a special way of preparing them. Besides using the tender 
leaves for salad, they plunge them in boiling water a few min- 
utes, then in cold, to destroy the herh taste they would other- 
wise have, shake and wring them dry, then chopping them fine, 
mix them with onions, and boil them till soft. 

Berries are also in the greatest abundance, fresh in their sea- 
son, dried and preserved. Like the New England housewife, 
too, they provide for the thirst of warm days and for the sick, 
the deUcious raspberry shrub. Meat is not an every day luxury, 
and their fat beeves are seldom served for their owti tables. 
The old fashioned etiquette at a peasant dinner is also a little 
different from what we have seen elsewhere. 

The cloth being spread, a dish of potatoes is set on, and one 
laid by each plate. The cook then brings a smoking pan of 
soup, when the family are called to dinner, and each • one helps 
himself to a spoon from a row hanging against the wall, and 
standing by his chair, asks a blessing. Then seating himself, he 
places his elbows on the table, and guides the soup from the 
common dish to his mouth as skilfully as may be. After which 
each one peels his potato ; other vegetables are brought, and 



AKGOVIE. 349 

pear sauce for dessert. On festival days and Sundays the frau 
brings a bit of meat, which is usually pork, and cutting it, 
reaches to each one a piece with her fork. 

In the winter the supper is milk porridge, and in summer 
potatoes with salad. Now and then the children rejoice be- 
cause they are to have pancakes, and on fete days other good 
things are baked at home or in the village bakery. One time, 
when there was a failure of crops, and bread was scarce, the 
Government furnished the people with rice, but they did not 
know how to cook it, and there was nobody to teach them, so it 
proved a useless benevolence. 

It was owing to the efforts of a pastor of Kirchberg that 
fruits and berries were introduced into every garden, and among 
the mechanics and higher classes ; the white cottages and green 
blinds dot the country, looking so picturesque, surrounded by 
orchards, or in the midst of groves, around which the little rills 
meander for the convenience of supplying the thirsty earth in a 
summer's drought, while the gardens are luxuriant with currants, 
strawberries, gooseberries, peaches, pears, apricots, and grapes. 

Walnuts and hazel-nuts afford the children a merry pastime in 
the autumn in the gathering time, and all winter to crack them 
around the great stove in the long evenings. 

In the Fruckthal there are no manufactories, and the people 
go over the Jura to Aarau to market. They must walk several 
miles, and yet seven o'clock finds them already there, with laden 
baskets, the productions of their orchards and their dairies, to 
exchange for the silk,- the calico, the paper, or other fabrics for 
which the city is famed. 

In the reign of Catholic Mary the persecuted English took 
refuge here, and it welcomed a colony of Huguenots, who 
rewarded the city for its hospitaUly by teaching many arts. 



350 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The cutlery is almost equal to that of Sheffield, and the founde- 
ries make bells of wondrous tone. 

The people of the manufacturing towns of Switzerland are at 
least no more miserable than those of other places. The gar- 
rets and cellars are not crowded with a wretched class crying 
for food ; but those who spin and weave are, on the whole, in a 
little better condition than those who do not In the beautiful 
factory in Windegg, every room for spinning, dyeing, and bleach- 
ing, is ventilated, and contains many other pleasant arrange, 
ments that make it second to none on the Continent, not only 
for accomplishing all its legitimate purposes, but for securing 
health and happiness to those who toil within its walls. 

In Wolilen are great straw-braiding establishments, which 
send thousands of hats to America ; and many industries of less 
importance are scattered throughout the canton. Argovie and 
Zurich are rival cantons. Being nearly of the same size, and 
occupying the same position with reference to longitude and 
latitude, standing side by side, there is no reason why they 
should not be equal in all things. Zurich is called the modern 
Athens^ and Argovie the culture canton, both from the attention 
they pay to the advancement of education and all mental cul- 
tm'e. 

For her many societies for improvement Argovie is indebted 
in great measure to her historian and poet, Henry ZscJioJike, who 
lived in a pretty villa near Aarau, and died there in 1848, at 
the age of seventy-seven. He was one of the Republicans of 
1830 who contributed by his writings to the great political 
changes throughout Switzerland, which have resulted in better 
Governments, and a true equality and liberty, that could be the 
only guarantee for order and unity. 

The Argovians have produced many historians, philosophers, 



AEGOVIE. 351 

and theologians. Hassler, one of their distinguished engineers, 
and author of eminent treatises upon astronomy and trigono- 
metry, was in the employment of the Government of the United 
States from 1811 to 1843, when he died, having been for 
twenty years Superintendent of the Coast Survey. The beauti- 
ful paintings upon glass in some of their own cathedrals, and in 
other lands, were executed by native artists. 

We heard an English lady ask a gentleman one day, "if 
Switzerland had ever produced any authors or artists of merit." 
He answered, " No." It seems very ridiculous to think of being 
obhged to prove what all people of ordinary reading and intelli- 
gence must know ; but when we ventured to say, " Why, yes, 
very many," it was still asserted that they were all foreigners 
who had fled to them for refuge. 

In each chapter we have alluded to a few, but to repeat their 
names in the httle space we have to devote, is giving no true 
idea of their number or importance. 

Music is not less cultivated in Argovie than in Zurich, and 
the unions of different societies are occasions of pleasa.nt festi- 
vals in city and country. 

Sport-loving boys Hght the carnival fires on the hills the same 
as in other cantons ; and the remnants of many old customs are 
seen in modern dress, where the spirit of the times require-s a 
little modifying of unseemly ways. On the first morning of 
May, lovers stand afar off to behold the surprise of the fair 
maidens, before whose windows they have erected a young fir- 
tree in the night, decked with ribbons and flowers, and are sure 
to receive an invitation to a fete within as a reward. 

The conventionalities of the Kiltgang allow the lover to enter 
the chamber of his fair one, and to climb to it by the grape trellis 
or any other convenience from without ; and if a stranger comes 



352 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

into their midst, and plays kilter with any village damsel, he is 
sure to be waylaid and beaten, till he is in no fit condition for 
many weeks to repeat his visits. 

But what is called the youWs feast is the national f^te of 
Argovie. On the evening before it is held, the children are at 
every door and garden fence begging flowers. The next morning 
they appear in wreaths and bouquets and dresses of white, ready 
for a procession, which is formed by the teachers of schools at 
eight o'clock, who walk with theii' pupils ; the parents, friends, 
and officials joining, as they pass, till they reach the church. 
The military arrange themselves in rows each side of the door, 
and musicians play martial music till the moment before service 
begins, when the organ peals forth, and the choir perform a 
series of solos, duets, and choruses, for which they have spent 
weeks in preparing. Then follows a sermon and other religious 
services, when two youths display their oratory in some original 
speeches, for which they have also been long practising ; and 
music again is the signal for the returning procession. 

The dinners are private but festal, the church, houses, and 
streets being wreathed with garlands, and all labour suspended 
among high and low. After dinner comes the grand military 
review for the soldiers to exhibit their tactics, which finishes by 
a sham-fight and siege, and of coui'se a victory, where there is 
only an imaginary enemy ; when all repair to a neighbouring 
grove for a picnic, where pretty maidens are the waiters, and 
the tables in the gayest of all attire. Dances close the scene, in 
which old and young join, till it grows dark, when they disperse, 
the little folk having enjoyed a day never to be forgotten, and 
such a one as should be permitted to all children now and then ; 
for neither in the song, or dance, or merriment, is there anything 
to which the most fastidious can object. 




CHAPTER XXII. 

TESSINO. 

ITALIAN SKIES — GOVERNMENTS — CLERGY — EDUCATION — CHURCH BELLS — 

PEASANT HOUSES — COSTUMES FAIRS — MINES — AGRICULTURAL FETE DAYS 

MARRIAGES DISTINGUISHED MEN. 

We are in Tessino, among the children of the sun, shaded by- 
groves of chestnuts, inhaling the perfume of the citron and the 
orange — in the land of the olive, the fig, and the pomegranate. 
There is everywhere a luxuriance of foliage, and over all a mel- 
lowness of tint, and around us a softness of temperature only to 
be found beneath Italian skies. The language has no more the 
harsh gutturals of the northern tongue, but flows like some 
gentle rivulet over golden sands. Nature has made it a land 
of beauty and of glory ; what shall we find it at the hand of 
man I 

A Swiss author, who wrote in 1191, says, " A German-Swiss 
pig would not enter where a Tessino family lives." This was 
more than half a century ago ; since then they have made many- 
improvements. Wise and strong men have taken a seat in their 
councils, and vigorous measures have proved the efficiency of 
their government. They have had one of their own but a little 

853 



354 THE eOTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

while, having in 1498 voluntarily placed themselves under the 
protection and government of the Forest Cantons, to be ruled 
by bailiffs sent to them from Uri, Schwytz, and Unterwalden. 
Near Bellizona are the three castles Avhich were occupied by 
these republican rulers, who were often as exacting and tyranni- 
cal as any delegate of Austrian despotism. As in Thurgovie, 
they purchased their offices at a great price, and remunerated 
themselves by unjust taxes and all manner of fraudulent imposi- 
tions upon the peeple. This is an experience which all nations 
have which are governed by agents accountable to a power in a 
distant land, which can have no real knowledge of the wants of 
those over whom they rule, and never learn whether those whom 
they delegate, administer justice or exercise tyranny.' 

Before they belonged to Switzerland, they were taken posses- 
sion of by cities and districts and parcelled among those who 
conquered them. Charlemagne passed through Locarno in 882, 
and gave this city as a present to his Avife Engelberga. King- 
Henry, in the eleventh century, gave Bellizona to the Bishop 
of Como, disposed of all the other cities in the same unceremo- 
nious manner, and afterwards kept the people in continual 
quarrels, as kings and bishops disputed the right to each other's 
possessions. 

As the other cantons joined the Confederacy, they partici- 
pated in the government, and each had the privilege of furnish- 
ing a bailiff for Tessino, so that it came to be ruled by deputies 
and bailiffs, who met every year, and formed what they called a 
Syndic, for the administration of affairs. This administration 
was little else than cruelty and anarchy ; and towards the end 
of the eighteenth century we find them attempting to get rid of 
their foreign rulers, to form a government of their own. This 
was accomplished by Napoleon, by whom Tessino was invited 



TESsmo. 355 

to send a deputy to meet those from the other cantons, to decide 
upon tJhie best government for the whole. The eight bailifdoms 
were formed into one canton ; and they immediately commenced 
forming a constitution, which was not finished to the satisfaction 
of all till 1880. 

But as soon as they were delivered from a foreign yoke, 
under which no people ever exhibited energy and inteUigence, 
whether it be a repubUcan or an imperial bondage, they awak- 
ened, and proved that they are worthy of freedom in the pro- 
gress they have made, though it has necessarily been slow. 
With the work of centuries to do in a few years, they have 
often excited the opposition of the people by taxes to build 
roads, bridges, and execute other public works, which were very 
expensive. 

Those who have been accustomed to think of Switzerland as 
a confederacy for three hundred years, with the same freedom 
and efficiency as America possessed from the moment of her 
birth, will see that there is good reason, without its being a re- 
proach, why she is far behind the republic of only half a cen- 
tury. 

In Tessino now their greatest hindrance is the clergy, who 
prefer to keep the people in ignorance, and are yet too 
numerous and too powerful to be overcome. In 1853, the Go- 
vernment ventured to suppress a convent of Capuchins, who 
were a disgrace to their profession and a curse to the country, 
and, with provision for their journey, banished them from the 
canton. They went into the Austrian territory, and this noble, 
enlightened, Christian Government of the nineteenth century, 
visited all the Tessinians of Lombardy, in revenge, with confisca- 
tion and banishment. Six thousand people were turned out of 
their peaceful homes in the depth of winter, deprived of all 



356 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

resources ; the property which they had accumulated by industry 
forcibly taken possession of, and themselves driven to seek an 
asylum where they might. After two years' negotiations, and 
the paying of a stipulated salary to those infamous monks, the 
Lombardian territory was again opened to the citizens of Tes- 
sino. 

Many people from this canton go away for a season, as in 
Graubtinden, to exercise some trade, remaining a few months, 
and sometimes years, but continuing citizens of Tessino, and 
returning eventually to spend their days in the land of their 
birth. 

Throngs of stone-hewers and bricklayers go to Italy in the 
spring, and return in the autumn, while those who sell roast 
chestnuts go in the fall, and return in the spring ; and also the 
cattle-dealers, and swarms of porters, to fill the hotels, to wait 
upon the English and Americans, who are seen also in throngs 
entering Italy in the autumn, and departing in the spring, but 
to spend money rather than to earn it. 

They have been petitioning twenty years to have the canton 
formed into a distinct bishopric, but in vain. A third of it 
belongs to the diocese of Milan, and the remainder to that of 
Como, the bishop of which derives thence his principal revenues. 
They have also petitioned to be relieved from the observance of 
many festivals ; but though the people of Lombardy had their 
prayers granted in this respect, the favour was refused to Tes- 
sino. They have thirty more fete days than theh neighbours, 
and are kept in such a round of festivities, that they are im- 
poverished by the loss of time and waste of substance thus 
involved. 

In 1848, when the convents of Argovie were suppressed by 
the Federal Government, some in Tessino were also secularised, 



TESSINO. 357 

but there are still twenty remaining, and a church for every one 
hundred and seventy individuals, with six hundred priests, exclu- 
sive of the monks. 

It is the canton where the least is done for education ; 
indeed, the only one where nothing is done at all. But they are 
now again trying to establish the system so efficiently and bene- 
ficially carried out elsewhere, with some hopes of success. 

They have lately lost one of their noblest citizens, M..rrans- 
cini, who had been many years a deputy to the Federal 
Council, and all his life engaged in some way in promotmg the 
good of his country. It is from his voluminous and laboriously 
prepared works that we glean all that is statistical concerning 
Switzerland. He mourned as for a lost son the degeneracy of 
his people. But we hope his mantle has fallen upon some one 
who will go forth with new strength to the great work which 
he began. 

There are colleges in some of the monasteries ; but they are 
mostly for the education of ecclesiastics, and the nuns in many 
places do something for the cultivation of young ladies ; but 
there are scarcely five hundred youths of both sexes who are 
pursuing scientific and literary studies either at home or abroad. 

The sound of church bells becomes almost a torture in the 
cities, there being in all the church towers about one thousand 
five hundred. Some of them ring every hour, and others at 
appointed tunes, and all every evening, till one is puzzled to 
know whether it is night or morning, especially as, according to 
the old fashion, many of the clocks still strike twenty-four times 
for the hours of the day instead of twice twelve, beginning the 
day at six in the evening, so that at seven by other people's 
clocks it strikes one, and at eight two, etc., by those of Tessino. 

In the evening, ladies are seen promenading or riding, but all 



358 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

day they are invisible, unless some in long black veils are return- 
ing from mass in the early morning. Yet beauty is not all con- 
cealed beneath veils. The women who go clattering with san- 
dals upon their feet, without stockings, and with the most 
neglige costume, are often very beautiful. They sit upon a stone 
or bench or under a tree all the day with their little ones in 
their arms, for whom they perform all motherly offices, evidently 
feeling that in those " holy duties " there is neither sin nor shame. 

In Bellizona the houses are mostly of woods, and each family 
occupies one, instead of being confined to a few rooms as in 
great cities. The three picturesque castles which overlook the 
city, formerly the residences of the three bailiffs of the forest 
cantons, are Castel Grand of Uri, which is now used for an 
arsenal ; Castel di Mezzo belonged to Schwytz, and Castel di 
Lune, which is in ruins, to Unterwald. The other two cities 
form with Bellizona an acute angled triangle, Lugano being at 
the point and upon the lake of the same name. Its situation is 
a little similar to that of Luzerno ; but how differently the 
sloping hills are clad. Along its shores are scattered the little 
villages, in the midst of groves of olive, almond, and citron, 
which are reflected upon the crystal surface of the lake, thus 
presenting at the same moment a lovely landscape and a picture 
in water colours such as no pencil can trace. 

The vines clothe all the southern part of the canton, some- 
times being placed in regular rows in the fields, and sometimes 
climbing elms and mulberries, and winding their careless 
branches from lunb to limb, while the clusters droop beneath, 
forming arches of gold and purple fruit. In the region of 
Lugano they are creeping over lattices, and sometimes formed 
into terraces. Opposite the city rises Mount Caprino, the base 
of which is full of grottoes, which they call the Caves of Eolus, 



TESSINO. 359 

because in summer a cold wind blows continually across. Here 
they have built small stone houses for their wine, where it is 
preserved always cool, and where they come themselves to 
promenade on pleasant summer evenings. 

The burgher houses in the surrounding country are large, 
with great balconies, which they use as sitting-rooms, shaded by 
curtains of tobacco-leaves drying in the sun. The peasant-wo- 
men are seen everywhere in bright green or yellow raw silk 
skirts, with many folds, and bodice of the same or difTerent 
colour, laced across the bosom with cords or ribbons. The 
sleeves are also in two parts, tied with bows of many colours. 
The hair is braided, and wound into the form of a great nest, 
with gold or silver pins placed in a half circle around the upper 
part of the braid, the large heads forming thus a kind of crown. 
We have seen this adopted by American ladies, who call it an 
" Itahan costume," and who might have seen it worn by an 
Italian princess. The men still appear in small clothes of cha- 
mois and scarlet vests ; but all peculiar modes are fast giving 
way, even in this sunny land, to the sombre hues and plain stuffs 
of sober climes. 

Shoes and stockings are only worn on festival days, and wo- 
men may be seen bending beneath heavy burdens, wandering 
barefoot through the hot sand. Ornaments of gold and silver 
for those who can afford it, and tinsel for the poorer classes, are 
seen everywhere ; a cross upon the breast, and a chain of gar- 
nets, alternating with buttons of gold thread, upon the neck. 

The clergy preach against finery, but it is the better class 
that wears it ; for those who do not spend their money in ways 
more demoralizmg — in low drunkenness and revelry ; while a 
taste for a pretty and neat attire is evidence of a little higher 
grade of mind and ambition. 



360 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

A stone pier connects Lugano with Menclriso across the lake, 
which, with the bridges at the two extremities, cost one hundred 
and thkty thousand dollars, and was finished in 1845. It was 
one of the pubhc works which the Government found it difficult 
to accompUsh, with its new power and scanty purse ; but which 
must in time repay them by facilitating communication with 
Italy for the merchandise and thousands of travellers who pass 
this way. 

Locarno is situated on the beautiful Lago Maggiore, only a 
small extent of which lies within Swiss temtory. This is the 
city from which emigrated in 1553 the persecuted Protestants, 
who took refuge in Zurich, and transferred their looms, and, as 
it would seem, all the enterprise of the town. It has never 
since prospered. The Pope endeavoured to increase the severity 
of the sentence, and commanded the Diet to confiscate their pro- 
perty, and oblige them to leave their children, to be educated in 
the Romish Church. But, as usual, the Diet refused to comply 
any farther than it chose with demands of pope or bishop. The 
Pope was enraged, and published bans and hulls against them, 
which they heeded in the same way. It was enough that the 
poor people were obliged to leave their homes, and the sacrifices 
were great, though they lost not all. Two centuries later, we 
find the descendants of these banished silk weavers extending 
their commerce from Germany to Lombardy, and visiting the" 
fairs of Frankfort and Italy with the stuffs which should have 
been woven in Locarno. Another of them established a cotton 
factory in Piedmont in 1812, taking with him two hundred 
Swiss, some of them whole families. He set up his looms in an 
old castle, and the buzz might have aroused the old knights who 
once revelled there from their death slumbers, and certamly 
would, if awaking had been possible, at seeing such a desecra- 



TESSINO. 361 

tioii of their lordly halls. There were spinners and weavers, 
and dyers and bleachers, scattered among the various saloons 
and corridors, and though they were once nearly overturned by 
a landslide, attacked by soldiers, and undermined by the ma- 
chinations of priests, nothing daunted them ; they spun away, 
and when their founder died, in 1843, twelve thousand persons 
were employed in his castle mills ! 

Now there is a fair every fortnight in Locarno, at which ap- 
pear all the costumes of the country, and all the productions of 
their soil. Every year in October there is also a cattle fair, the 
largest in Switzerland, to which are driven from all the northern 
cantons those they have been so carefully training, and which 
come in troops of hundreds and thousands, most of them over 
the St. Gothard, and also some ten thousand horses, to meet 
the purchasers from Italy. 

It was instituted as early as 1513. Afterwards a rival fair 
was commenced at another village, that caused dissensions which 
lasted thirty years, but were finally settled by convention. 

On all the borders of the lakes the plants which we have 
been accustomed to tend so carefully in greenhouses are flourish- 
ing, and in far greater luxuriance, in the open air ; and the gar- 
dens of the villas are gorgeous with bloom, and made beautiful 
by taste and art. 

But what a contrast are the houses of the poor ; in many 
places rows of miserable huts of stone, with no mortar to cover 
their rudeness, no chimney, and black with soot and dust. In 
Germany and North Switzerland the floors are bare, but they 
are universally clean. Here they are carpeted with mud, whicli 
has never come in contact with water. The cattle are in sepa- 
rate huts, but so near that the pigs, which are red, may be often 

16 



362 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

seen putting their noses in the dinner which stands cooked npon 
the hearth. 

In the valley of Maggio and Blenio there will be rows of mise- 
rable houses for human beings, and opposite rows of very good- 
looking stables for the cattle. 

A part of every establishment is an inclosure for drjdng chest- 
nuts, where a fire must be made. There is to almost every 
house a patch of tobacco and of Turkish corn, a small species, 
which is sown and gathered in the course of forty days. Often 
over these wretched huts the acacia waves, and the fig-tree, 
with its luxurious foliage, tries to screen their dingy walls. To 
see the fruit of this tree in its green state, one could scarcely 
beheve it could be the same as the contents of the little drums 
which we are accustomed to eat. Its shape is something like a 
pear, and the outer coat green, but within it is a pulp or consis- 
tency something like what children call a mealy apple, and of a 
most beautiful rose colour. But the taste is horrible. The 
manner of packing them for exportation would not increase the 
relish to those who eat them, and as we do not wish to destroy 
this pleasure, we leave the process to be imagined, being quite 
sm*e no imagination will exaggerate the reality. 

All the implements of agriculture are after the mode which 
might have been in vogue . before the flood, — a wooden rake 
instead of a harrow, and something called a plough, di'awn by 
oxen or perhaps hy woTnen, with wide fringes to their skirts, long 
aprons, and caps like nuns. 

The grain, after being cut, is not left upon the ground, but 
hung upon an apparatus for the purpose, that gives it the 
appearance of being a straw roof, with the sheaves lying one 
above another in layers, shedding rain readily, and exposed 



TESSINO. 363 

to the sun and wind. In fourteen days it is threshed without 
ever being put in barns, of which they have no need. 

This picture gives the idea of poverty, but there is no reason 
why the people should be poor. Maize thrives better in Tes- 
sino than in Italy, yielding two or three fold more at harvest, 
and, where well cultivated, from eight to twelve fold. Potatoes 
yield eight to ten fold, and, with favourable soil and good care, 
from twenty to sixty fold, and this without any modern im- 
provements of draining, irrigation, or scientific culture. 

The mechanics form only an eighth or ninth part of the 
population, and then practise agriculture a portion of their time. 
Four thousand persons are absent a whole or part of the year 
exercising trades in other lands. 

Where chestnuts grow they are often eaten twice a day, 
boiled or roasted, for many months. They also have polenta in 
various forms, boiled, baked, and dried, and besides, figs, 
peaches, pears, plums, cherries, and apricots are in the greatest 
abundance. Yet they grow without care, and gardens among 
the peasantry have no attention. They have a superstitious 
prejudice against flowers, but, as it would seem, none against 
weeds. 

Every family has a red pig, and in the autumn it is slaugh- 
tered and salted for the winter, but in the summer they seldom 
eat meat. Sometimes a poor widow hires a few goats for then* 
milk, and to furnish something to do for her boys. They are 
valued, and at the end of the time for which she has taken them, 
three or four years, they must be returned, or their worth in 
money. Fishing and hunting are everywhere free. 

Besides thirty holidays more than the people of Lombardy 
are obliged to observe, they also have many more processions, 
blessings, and days when they are obliged to spend an hour or 



364: THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

more in churcli, besides the daily mass, and all ordinary fetes. 
Not to exaggerate, we may say there are five whole days and 
fifteen half days spent in this way by fifty thousand working 
people of all ages and both sexes. This makes two hundred and 
fifty thousand days lost to labour by the people themselves. 
But the working annuals are also unemployed ; the hammer is 
still, the plane moves not, and the saw-mill is dumb. On these 
days they eat and drink more than on other days, and the priests 
confess that most of the time is spent in idleness and dissipation. 

At the ceremony of baptism a great parade is made, if it be a 
boy, but for gii*ls not any ! Costly gifts are made to the new 
mother, the bells are rung, and a procession escorts the infant to 
the font. 

Weddings take place usually early in the morning or late in 
the evening, and are often solemnized between boys of seventeen 
and girls of fifteen. Sometimes the bridegroom, at the head of 
a long train of relations, knocks at the door of the bride. A 
person within calls out, '' Who is there, and what do you wish ?" 
After a long parley, an old woman opens the door ; but those 
without are not satisfied till they enter. Being expected, the bride 
is arrayed for church, and with her relations joins the procession, 
the mother remainmg at home to prepare supper. The wedding- 
ring is never removed from the finger. 

Betrothals are public, and if the promise of marriage is not 
performed in consequence of fickleness on either side, a sum 
must be paid, which is adjudged in proportion to the wealth of 
the individual, and often all they have. 

The Lichtge]u.n is the custom in the northern part of the can- 
ton, with the usual penalties if the lover is seen on his way, or a 
stranger is caught paying his addresses to one out of the village 
where he belono's. 



TESSINO. 365 

When rich people are sick, prayers are said three days in 
church, but the poor cannot afford to pay for them. In some 
valleys a pound of salt is divided among all the neighbouring 
houses, that they may pray for the sick. At funerals there is 
great weeping and wailing, and many prayers for the soul of the 
departed. But a priest asks more for repeating the Litany 
aloud, less if he says it in a half tone, and a certain price if he 
sings it. It often requires all a poor family is worth to buy one. 

There is a chapel or a cross at every corner, and daily proces- 
sions to visit them and receive a blessing. If these are not 
attended, the peasants think " the thunder, hghtning, and the 
rain " will destroy their crops, because the words of the prayer 
are, " Protect us, Lord, from tempest," etc. If it thunders, 
the bells are rung for protection, or they gather under the eaves 
of the church, believing there no evil will come near them, and 
are often seen collecting as soon as it begins to be cloudy. 

The carnival is held only where Bacchus can preside ; and 
then in the usual way, as in Italy, maskers going from house to 
house in the evening, with lighted torches, begging, and among 
high and low dances and feasts. Since the facilities of commu- 
nication made it possible, very many go to Milan to the theatre, 
instead of indulging in sports at home. 

Besides these, and an indescribable number in addition, are the 
pilgrimages to Einsiedeln, and to the Madonna, in the Vigezzo- 
Thal, in Sardinia, and many a consecrated spot in their own 
canton. 

Ghosts, witches, visions, and apparitions, are the events of 
every day ; and if an old miser dies, they believe the earth 
shakes and the mountains tremble. But they say here, as in 
Luzerne, that spirit-rappers have not found so many supporters 
as in Protestant Zurich 1 



366 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

As we have before mentioned, they are engaged in constant 
litigations, though not exactly '' for amusement," as they do in 
Aargau ; and one could not expect, with their indolent habits, 
they would take the trouble for any reason. For this, and be- 
cause of their many festivals, and also that in countries where 
the articles of greatest luxury are produced the people are 
universally the poorest, the people of Tessino are far from rich, 
and many of them far from comfortable. In the course of fifty 
years, however, they have progressed very much, and begin to 
feel some ambition to overtake their sister cantons in the north. 

Yet their fruitful land has not been entirely barren of genius. 
Who has not heard of Cetti, who knew all the languages of 
Europe, besides Hebrew and Arabic? and bj was born in 
Lugano. From the same city Napoleon invited Soam to be 
one of the thirty members of the National Institute . A Tessino 
surgeon was also placed by him in care of the military hospitals 
in Italy. Many of his profession have been distinguished in 
Italian cities. 

Still more numerous have been her artists. Frazzini, who 
was then in Denmark, was invited by Peter the Great to make 
the designs for building St. Petersburg ; and to Rusca, in the 
tune of Catherina, both St. Petersburg and Moscow were in- 
debted for some of the most beautiful of their structures. 
Fietri acquired great distinction in the Academy of Cadiz, and 
was sent to Chili to found an academy. Two beautiful edifices 
were designed by him in Lima, It was by the light of the 
genius of a Tessino artist that Moscow arose from her ashes 
af*er the great conflagration more beautiful than before. Native 
artists built the St. Gothard, the Bernardin, and also Mount 
Cenis, for the Italians ; and within a few years Fossa ti has 
restored the mosque of St Sophia, in Constantmople. 



TESSINO. 367 

Coldrario, who died in 1666, was director of the Academy 
of St, Lucas, at Rome ; and Pozzi received the prize for paint- 
ing at Parma at the age of twenty-one. The palace of Schon- 
brunn, near Vienna, was planned by a Tessino architect for 
Maria Theresa ; and two others constructed the dome of Milan. 

We have been accustomed to hear these works ascribed to 
Italian artists, because they have Italian names, and we heard 
an Englishman assert one day that St. Petersburg was designed 
by a Frenchman. We do not understand why so many who 
travel in Switzerland are ready to do justice to her mouu tains 
while doing so great injustice to her men. 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

BERNE. 

INTERLAKEN — EMPRESS-MOTHER OP RUSSIA — SUNRISE FROM THE GRIMSEL 
— STORY OF PETER ZEIBACH — OLD CUSTOMS— BERNESE BOYS — FELLEN- 
BERG COUNTRY LIFE. 

The second time we entered Berne, it was from the south, 
having gone completely round the little republic, and many 
times across. 

Interlaken is the watering-place of Switzerland. It is the 
concentrating and diverging point for all who ascend the moun- 
tains, cross the lakes, and thread the valleys : and for many who 
only wish to say they have, and to be for a httle while in the 
midst of whirl and fashion. 

We followed the example of all the world, and came to 
Interlaken, which, as the name indicates, lies between the lakes, 
and in the centre of that mountainous region known as Berner 
Olerland. From one window we look out upon a lovely valley 
in the midst of bloom and beauty ; and from the other upon 
the eternal snows, which are within less than an hour's ride or 
walk. 

It is a whirl, sure enough, a continuous throng coming and 

368 



BERNE. • 369 

going, with all manner of caravans and cavalcades, equipages 
and costumes, from those of the prince to the peasant. The 
Empress-Mother of Russia is this year the centre of attraction, 
though she herself is as' insignificant a looking little "/?•«,%" as 
one often sees. We are sitting one morning on the green, with 
a handkerchief tied over our head, when a lady in a light blue 
silk tunic over a white under-dress crosses the lawn. She is 
followed by a troop of fair maidens, who attend her to a seat, 
and kiss her hand. So much for ceremony. When it is finished, 
they kneel at her feet, or sit on a bench ; and by-and-by comes 
one who has also a handkerchief tied over her head, and places 
herself at her side. We ask who they all are ; and first learn, 
that it is a train of Russian nobles, and that the house opposite 
is the residence of the Empress, for which she pays one hundred 
and fifty dollars a day. 

Her daughter, the Crown-Princess of Wurtemberg, is a much 
grander-looking person, and affects no less state than the Queen 
of England or the Empress of France. When she takes a 
walk, a liveried servant goes before, and another behind, and 
her train drags nearly a yard in length on the ground, while a 
gapmg crowd stand witness, which is evidently what she desires. 

In another town we said to a Russian countess, from Mos- 
cow, something of the Empress-Mother ; and she answered : 
" Oh, yes, she likes to hold herself up !" and a German ex- 
claimed, in allusion to the Crown Princess, " Every subject in 
Wurtemberg must live on bread and water to support this 
ridiculous pomp 1" 

But this is not our sphere ; we will change the scene. 

It is the most glorious of summer mornmgs, and we find our- 
selves upon one of the distant mountain-tops ; for we rose long 
before the sun could find his way to such a height, in order to 



370 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

oee him lift his head above the horizon. To what insignificance 
fade the crowns of princes and the pomp of courts before such a 
scene ! What would become of all the grandeur and glory of 
the world if the king of light should be dethroned — if he should 
determine to rest for a single day, or some morning oversleep 
himself ; or the hght of his countenance be dimmed for a mo- 
ment w^hilst we are watching his awaking ? We have never 
before been so impressed with b's majesty and that of all the 
starry hosts. 

But again we must bring ourselves back to earth and ordinary 
mortals ; and, alas I in the fulfilment of our mission, expose the 
chambers of a human mind and heart from w^hich the hght of 
the Sun of Righteousness has been shut out, and the darkness 
become hke that which would fill the world if the Author of 
light should veil his face. 

Three centuries ago, a hut was built upon the Grimsel to 
accommodate those who wished to pass from Canton TJri to 
Yalais, and a man called then, as now, a sjpitle?', was placed 
there to attend to weary travellers. Those who could afford it 
paid for the attention they received ; and those who could not, 
were not less hospitably cared for. Contributions in all Switzer- 
land, which were collected in winter, supported the humble 
establishment, which was very little enlarged or improved during 
a hundred years. Often in the spring it was found covered 
with snow and mud, and had to be dug out and made habitable, 
as then no one thought of remaining all the winter, the travel- 
lers being few or none who passed that way after the snows 
covered the hills. 

When traveUing became the fashion, and the glaciers greater 
objects of attraction than galleries of art, the Grimsel presented 
almost every day a scene like an assembly, so great was the 



BERNE. 371 

throng upon its heights, nearly seven thousand feet above the 
sea. Thence paths led in many directions to the glaciers and 
valleys of the four cantons. 

In the early part of this century the house was fitted up by 
the inhabitants of Hash Yalley, and rented to a man who took 
all the risk and trouble, and paid a stipulated sum to the 
owners. In 1836, being obliged to give it up, it was rented to 
his son-in-law, Peter Zeibach, who had shown himself a worthy, 
energetic man during all his life, and whose wife and daughters 
were well fitted for the responsible household duties of such an 
establishment. 

It was soon proved that the choice was not ill made. Peter 
enlarged and improved the premises, till the " Hosjnz" was one 
of the best in Switzerland ; and by his attentions and just deal- 
ings he made himself renowned in many lands. The travellers'- 
book was filled with his praises in every language. A German 
artist had covered it with designs ; a professor had written 
whole stanzas in Greek ; students had scribbled much good and 
bad wit ; and English, American, and French verses showed 
the appreciation the authors had of good fare, if they could not 
sing like Homer and Byron. 

It was to study the neighbouring glaciers that Agassiz and 
his companions built their tents upon the ice, where their ruins 
still stand, and they numbered Peter as not among the least of 
the natm-al curiosities with which they became acquainted, and 
the name of the philosopher and host were linked in many a 
complimentary verse. 

The peasant never put off his costume or assumed the preten- 
sions of a gentleman. Unless sought for counsel or to interpret, 
or settle disputes with guides, he was seldom seen, the higher 
official duties beuag left to his son, and the daughters in the 



372 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

pretty Bernese costume superintended the household. They 
spoke German, French, and English, were always in the dining- 
room to be sure that every want was attended to, settled the 
bills, attended to the sick, and made each one feel that he was 
in a pleasant family instead of a mercenary inn. 

There were in summer fifty servants ; dining, reading, and 
sitting-rooms ; and good lodgings for more than a hundred peo- 
ple. Thirty or forty cows supplied milk, butter, and cheese of 
the best quality, many horses were kept for guides, pigs for 
fresh meat, and more than a hundred goats. 

Justice and integrity were the special characteristics of Peter. 
In all troubles which arose he was arbiter, and no one found 
fault with his decisions; he prospered as the wicked rather than 
the righteous are usually seen to do, and became rich, though 
he entertained gratis at least six thousand poor who every year 
came to his door. 'No one who ever heard it will forget his 
'' God protect thee I" which was so seriously and heartDy 
uttered to all who left him to tempt the dangers of the snowy 
depths below. Would that he had always uttered it as earnestly 
for himself ; then surely God would not have forsaken him in 
the hour of temptation and darkness. 

It was on a cold November night that the flames were seen 
enveloping the snowy peaks of the Grimsel, and the next day 
the Government and Council of Ober-Hasli were informed of 
the calamity by Peter, who said that a stranger had lodged 
there that night, and probably through his carelessness the fire 
had originated. The house was insured in Berne for five thou- 
sand dollars, and the furniture for four thousand. It was the duty 
therefore of the Government to inquire into all the particulars 
of the catastrophe, and they immediately sent a committee to 
examine the premises and ascertain the extent of tlie loss. 



BERNE. 373 

No evidences that any one had perished in the flames appeared, 
and various things led to suspicion that accident had not been 
the cause of the fire. Further examination revealed that many 
things had been hidden in the hay and buried in the ground ; 
wine, beer, vegetables, and cheese were found where only care 
could have placed them. 

As soon as suspicion was awakened, the servant who had been 
left there for the winter had fled ; and when a second deputa- 
tion went to search the ruins, they met Peter and his son just 
returning from Canton Yalais with wood to rebuild the house. 
When asked about the articles which were buried, he said it was 
his custom, in order to keep them from freezing ; but he had 
forgotten to mention them in makuig his statement. But in a 
day or two were found many more ; doors and windows con- 
cealed behind rocks, boxes of glass, furniture, kitchen utensils 
and stores. The judge, pointing to them, said in a friendly tone, 
" Peter Ziebach, you are an unfortunate man." 

He saw that he was ruined, and stood for a moment sunk in 
deep thought ; then rushed wildly down the steep, and plunged 
into the sea. They dragged him from the water and restored 
him to life ; alas, for what ? That he might spend twenty years 
in a solitary cell I 

He was placed on a horse, and by a strong guard brought to 
Meyringen. How often our thoughts turned as we traced the 
same wild solitary way to the grey-haired man of sixty-two, who 
had lived a long life of honour and probity, and now in age had 
covered himself with infamy, and plunged his innocent wife and 
children into irretrievable misfortune. Strange mystery is the 
human heart. 

ISio suspicion rested upon his family, and he had in no way 
involved them by communicating to them any of his plans. 



374 



THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 



We will go back and trace the power of temptation in an 
honest mind. Peter had five brothers and sisters, and lived in a 
secluded valley of Ober-Hazli, where his father had a patch of 
land which he had helped to cultivate in summer, and in winter 
learned the beautiful art peculiar to this valley, of carving arti- 
cles in wood, w^hich he and his brothers sold in the hotels of 
Interlaken, the Rhigi, and Lucerne to visitors, and returned 
with the money to their parents. 

Reading and writing were the extent of his education, and in 
1826 he married the daughter of Leuthold, who spent his sum- 
mers upon the Grimsel, and in the winter manufactured perfumes 
and carved wood. Peter was received as a son, and made 
partner in each department of business, all of which prospered 
till the family were no longer poor, but among the affluent of 
the land. 

In 1821, there were only ten beds in the Hospiz, and at the 
time it was burnt, in 1852, there were a hundred ; three com- 
munes had been added to the property, and the interest had 
increased threefold. Peter often took three thousand dollars in 
a season, and spared not his own means, and shrank from no care 
or labour that could add to the pleasure and comfort of his guests. 

But in 1853, his lease would end. In October he had tried 
to renew it for twenty years upon conditions more favourable to 
himself, but had not succeeded. He had reigned as king on the 
mountain for sixteen years, and acquired a reputation w^hich 
placed him among the first and most honourable of Swiss inn- 
keepers. In the hotels of every canton his name was heard, and 
in his native valley he was considered a benefactor, and looked 
up to with respect. He could not endure the thought of resign- 
ing it. The mountain air was his element, and the bustle and 
business of the hotel his life. 



BEENE. 375 

Then came speculations concerning means of retaining it, or 
becoming the owner. The house belonged to the company, but 
if it were destroyed, with a little aid he could rebuild it, and it 
would be his for ever. The train of thought can be easily 
imagined now that we know the end. Two months before the 
fire he came to the bed of his wife in great agony, crying for 
help, but soon became quiet, and could not explain what was the 
trouble. It was the struggle between the good and the evil 
principle within him, and the evil at length prevailed. He 
flattered himself with the thought that the wrong would not be 
so very great where no lives would be endangered, and resolved 
also to do great good if he should be owner of real estate, a man 
of property and influence. The new house should correspond 
with the times, and the Grunsel should fill the land with renown. 

The two servants were induced to accede to his plans by the 
promise of three hundred dollars. Six pounds of sulphur and 
five bottles of gas were purchased and placed in different parts 
of the building, besides wood covered with fat. Peter attended 
to the packing himself, and when all was ready on the 5 th of 
Is'ovember, went home. The men drank, to give them courage, 
and one took a light and kindled each place through a hole 
which had been made for the purpose. In three hours the house 
was burnt to the ground. 

On the 13th of May, 1853, the old man, now bent and sor- 
row-stricken, stood with his accomplices before the Assizes of 
Berner Oberland, in Thun. The accusation was read, and he 
was then entreated to give a detail of the events. This he 
refused to do ; but said, as far as he was concerned, it was just, 
only harshly expressed, and in some things exaggerated. 

Pausing with a deep shudder he said, — " I know I have 
brought upon myself and family the deepest misfortune. There 



376 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

is for me no justification. I have sinned, and pray all men to 
see in me henceforth a warning. After having devoted my life 
to industry and economy, and striven to promote the honour of 
my children and the good of my country, through one sin I have 
brought disgrace and misery to them, and must myself sit down 
for ever in darkness and the shadow of death. There are many 
here who have known and respected me, and the judge will 
commit and punish me against his will and love for me ; but I 
deserve the full punishment of the law — dungeon and death. 
For myself I could not ask the sentence mitigated, but for the 
sake of my family I pray it may be lightened ; and to my com- 
panions I ask you to be merciful." 

By the law he was adjudged to death ; but the Federal 
Council commuted the sentence to twenty years' imprisonment 
and chains. The two principal accomplices were sentenced to 
twelve, and the other to eleven years in solitary confinement. 
Only seven of these years are passed, and still thirteen remain. 

Whoever studies the records a hundred years hence will no 
doubt think this a severe punishment under the circumstances, 
as we do many that were inflicted a hundred years ago. It was 
a crime, but it was the only one of a life, and was deeply re- 
pented. The judgment of God will be more merciful. 

Berne has been always a ruling power, disposed to conquest 
and to tyranny, until the last revision of her constitution and 
the formation of the present Federal Government. The oli- 
garchists are for the present in the minority, but the gall and 
w^ormwood are in their hearts, and having lost their power, they 
make it up in exclusiveness, in boasting of superiority which is 
no longer otherwise visible. One hears continually of the 
"seven patrician families" who have kept themselves entirely 
pure from all plebeian connections and relationships ; and it is 



EERNE. 377 

true they have isolated themselves so entirely from the world for 
fear of contamination that they have adopted about as little of 
the world's progress as the inhabitants of Spitzbergen. The 
patricians of Philadelphia would be amused to find ii field bed- 
stead, with all appurtenances thereunto, the principal furniture 
of a saloon among those who would not admit into their presence 
a person who could not count ten generations. 

When the great Haller wished to publish his' history in the 
city, and walked among them prince of poets, orators, phi- 
losophers, magistrates, and physicians, they could not tolerate 
his having been humble born, and could not allow that Berne 
should stand upon his title-page. This was in the eighteenth 
century, and if they had the power they would use it in the 
game ridiculous manner now. They do not allow any marriages 
to take place out of this charmed circle, and have thus intensi- 
fied stupidity to the very last degree. The ridiculous pretension 
of the httle German courts is not quite so ridiculous as that of 
these Swiss patricians, which are not confined to Berne alone, 
as we have elsewhere said. 

We find very early among the statutes of Berne attempts to 
restrain the guilds, with the avowal that it is for the pui*i3ose of 
preventing their ever acquiring the influence they did in Zurich. 
In 1363, they were forbidden to assemble without four members 
of the Government present ; and any who should form a guild 
without permission should pay four hundred dollars, and be ban- 
ished for ever from the city. 

Before this many of the nobility had become impoverished 
and resorted to handicrafts, and when they came by their trades 
to be members of guilds, they wished also to retain their posi- 
tion and influence, but they had soiled their hands with labour, 
and couia no more sit down with princes. 



378 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

But their efforts did not entirely succeed. A century later 
great troubles arose with the butchers, who rebelled against the 
restrictions, and the bakers did not like that the Government 
should fix the price of bread. But instead of heeding their 
petitions, they were restrained within narrower limits, and all old 
laws concerning apprentices and master workmen were renewed, 
No apprentice was allowed to have more than seven dollars and 
a half in his pocket at a time. 

In 146 1, a clothmaker was obtained by the Government, and 
supplied with house, dyeing materials, kettles, shears, etc., and 
all foreign clothes forbidden to be sold. All that were made 
were examined weekly, to be sure no fraud had been practised, 
and carried to the city sale-house. The richest people dressed 
in grey homespun till the sixteenth century. 

A French tailor was banished so late as 1^98 ; and not till 
1198 did they get rid of all privileges and restrictions in trade 
and mechanics. 

1366. — It was ordained that all grain must be brought to the 
market in Berne. This was a Government monopoly ; but 
when there was a scarcity, and the corn-house was empty, the 
Government felt obliged to fill it ; and in time of famine, in 
1411, they sent to Strasburg and procured nine hundred thou- 
sand pounds, the transportation of which cost them six thousand 
Rhenish gulden (two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars). 

In 1481, an apothecary was appointed, with a salary of ten 
dollars a year and eight wagon-loads of wood. 

In 1394, twenty-one hrunnen were finished, it being a very 
dry summer. Since then many others have been added. The 
designs of the statues and masonry are curious specimens of the 
olden time. One is an ogre eating a child, half of which hangs 
out of his mouth, and several are peeping their heads out of his 



BEKNE. 



3Y9 



pockets and liauging to his girdle, waiting the dictates of his 
appetite. Another is the figure of a bear standing on his hind 
legs, dressed in a coat-of-mail, and wearing a helmet, in one 
hand a banner and in the other a sword. 

The streets were paved in 1399, and fines were mostly appro- 
priated to improving and adorning the city. If a wall was to 
be built, or tower, or public-house, all the citizens helped, and it 
was soon finished. 

Duels were, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 
authorized by Government ; a place appointed for the combat, 
and judges to attend to the ceremony. They fought within a 
ring, and he who first ran out was considered vanquished. 
Women who were slandered had also the privilege of proving 
their innocence by single combat, though the arrangements were a 
little different. The man was obliged to stand in a ditch to his 
waist, and defend himself with a club, while the woman pelted 
him with stones. A woman thus vindicated her honour in 1288, 
and came off victorious. 

At all entertainments the men and women were obliged to sit 
as far apart as possible ; and in 1602, great consternation was 
produced at a wedding by young ladies entering the room with 
gehtlemen, and sitting promiscuously at table. The Government 
immediately set itself to correct such a scandal, and ordained 
that in future there should be no sitting by each other among 
gentlemen and ladies, and that two ofi&cers should be present on 
all occasions to see that this order was obeyed, and cause a fine 
of fifty dollars for each offence. Exactly how far apart they 
were obliged to -remain is not stated, nor w^hether they were 
within speaking distance. 

A wedding is mentioned of a rich heiress, at which a great 
supper was given, and the bride and bridegroom had a roast 



380 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

peacock. Henry voii Luttermann performed the office oifemme, 
de chamhre for the bride, and her morning gift was a gold chain. 

'^0 citizen of Berne could marry a woman from another state 
unless she had a dowry of fifteen hundred dollars. 

A shoemaker was fined fifteen dollars for making shoes a 
finger's length longer than the foot. Ladies were forbidden to 
have tails to their dresses, or to wear caps more than two-thirds 
of a yard high, with fringe hanging to the bottom of the dress 
behind. The nobility bordered their dresses with ermine, '' but 
could not be consoled for the loss of their Moved tails.'' 

In 15 tt, it is recorded that a noble lady of Berne bore her 
husband the twenty-sixth child. In 1542, an innkeeper was 
forbidden to ask more than four sous for a good meal of fish and 
meat. At a wedding only one kind of roast and salad was to 
be set before the guests, and only six could be invited. Women 
and girls could have a simple soup, but boys nothing. Those who 
wished to entertain men could set before them one dish of meat 
and a pint of wine ; and the hostess must be careful to have it 
ready by ten o'clock in winter, and at eleven in summer, so that 
they could get through at four and go home. 

We find the Government issuing mandates concerning caps 
and trains till the end of the eighteenth century. Many efforts 
were made to create a national dress. Young men who 
went abroad and returned in the costume of another country, 
must lay it aside within six weeks, and dress according to law. 
Clergymen must wear their cloaks to conceal their gaiters, other 
gentlemen to cover their hips, and women to hide their ankles ; 
and servants must not wear velvet, or silk, or hats, or shoes 
with heels. 

CoflTee-houses were introduced about the year 1100, by a 
Frenchman, but forbidden by the Government. Twenty-five 



BERNE. 381 

years later an attempt was made to form a society where tea and 
coffee should be the beverage, and playing cards and conversa- 
tion the amusement, but the Government forbade it. At the 
same time this same Government allowed the formation of a 
society called the Golden Lause, to which belonged more than 
fifty members of the Great and Little Council, which required 
of the members to get drunk every day of the week ! Those 
who mourn the degeneracy of the present times, and especially 
of democratic rulers, can pause and consider. 

In 1137, it is mentioned that a new and peculiar feature had 
appeared in Bernese society, not at all productive of virtue or 
good manners,* Young girls from eight to ten years of age 
formed themselves into a society or " Sunday Union f and 
without any supervision from older persons, spent the evening in 
" wild sports and junketing ;" and when they arrived at the age 
of sixteen or seventeen, young gallants were added to their 
members, who were as destitute of good manners as themselves. 
Officers from the garrison entertained them with stories of their 
amours and revels, which were not of a nature to refine their 
manners or purify their minds, and furnished them with books 
of doubtful character, all of which had the most deleterious 
influence on the whole family life and general society, which 
remains to this day. 

The author does not say how long these had existed ; whether 
they originated in Berne, or were adopted from some other 
country, or were introduced, as were many of their customs, by 
some of the swarms of foreigners who were always fleeing to 
them for refuge. But he proceeds to lament the consequences 
of these coteries, which separated the members of families, alien- 

* History of Berne, by Von Zillier. 



THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

ated affections that should be cemented, and exposed the young 
to evil influences which parents and guardians had not the 
power to counteract because they were ignorant of them ; and 
created a stiffness in manners and society which prevents cor- 
diality, and is inimical to good feeling.* 

In the beginning, two hundred and forty-three families formed 
the oligarchy, and the "Great and little Council" could be 
formed from those only. They assumed all lucrative oflQces, 
and aiTOgated to themselves all privileges. The ^^ Burgher ^^ 
and '' Bauer ^^ were aUke contemptible. It was this aristocracy 
and arrogance which led to the " war of the peasants" in 1513. 
They were conquered, but not extinguished, and one after an- 
other, in each canton where ohgarchism prevailed, there was a 
succession of revolutions, — in Lucerne in 1570, in Basle in 1591. 
In 1652, Berne changed the value of her currency, so that he 
who had ten dollars yesterday, had only one to-day. A similar 
ordinance appeared in Lucerne, and was the signal for universal 
rebellion. "Of what use was it," said the peasants, "to 
abolish the old slavery and impose a new one ? Those oppress- 
ions are insupportable. Where is the beloved justice of the 
ancient Confederacy ? Berne indeed makes very good laws, but 
they are never executed." 

For the tumults, wars, and massacres which followed, we 
have not room. They continued till the nineteenth century in 
some form, and ended only with the abolition of caste and 
privilege. Vaud and Argovie struggled till they became free ; 
and Berne was obliged to yield all her conquered territory, ex- 
cept Bienne, and part of the ancient bishopric of Basle. 

In 1830 the aristocratic government was overturned for the 

* We have described them more particularly in Canton Geneva. 



BERNE. 383 

last time, and the constitution based upon the utmost freedom. 
The '' two hundred and forty- three famihes" have dwindled to a 
very few ; but their hatred, revenge, and bitterness, are inten- 
sified in proportion ; and the manner in which they foster their 
pride, and affect to despise " new people," is infinitely amusing. 
The next generation will perhaps get a little Christianized and 
modernized ; for, in spite of all the bars and bolts of conven- 
tionalism, new ideas do now and then creep in. The schools 
will soon send forth one generation which must have learned a 
little of the trne Christian and liberal spirit, if they are taught 
the history of their country as written by their best authors, 
and imbibe the spirit of patriotism and enthusiam as sung by 
their poets. 

We have never anywhere seen so many fine-looking, manly, 
and well-behaved boys as in Berne. The first day we returned 
to the city, we visited the play-ground, from which we could al- 
ways overlook the exercises of the gymnasium, where were held 
also school exhibitions. We should like to know the future of 
some fine little fellows, who show us their prizes and certificates 
with eyes that sparkle like fire, and a manifestation of pride and 
emulation that proves their appreciation of an honourable name. 
We made many friends among the little folks, and found it 
dreary enough in our walks when it became too cold for them 
to run, and jump, and scream on the lawn. But we remained 
long enough to see them slide down hill ; and if American boys 
would know how this feat is performed in Switzerland, we can 
tell them — exactly as it is in America ! The sleds are of all 
fashions and sizes,'*and they begin at the top, and wheel around 
a long, winding way, sometimes losing their balance, and tumb- 
hng heels over head, as we have seen them on a thousand hills 
at home. Sometimes there are girls also, whom the boys 



384 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

politely draw up the steep places, and guide the sled carefully 
again on its way down. We are only sorry they cannot remain 
always frank, true, open-hearted Swiss boys, instead of being 
trained to the falsehood, narrow-mindedness, and bigotry, which 
their conventionalisms require. 

But we did not remain always in Berne capital. It was the 
first canton where we saw the peasantry in their villages and 
homes ; and in no other do they seem to be so rich and pros- 
perous ; or rather, in no other do we see those who seem so 
rich and prosperous. The distmctions are greater between the 
rich and poor. 

After their heroes, the name and life with which we were best 
acquainted in Switzerland before we came, was that of Fellen- 
berg. When we came to Berne, our first inqumes were for his 
institution, and some one answered, '' Oh, it is in ruins. Since 
he died it has not been kept in operation.'' But this did not 
deter us from wishing to see where he laboured. 

The work he accomplished is known to all the world. His 
school was patronised by every nation in Europe ; and with hmi 
originated the noble ideas concerning agriculture as a science 
and means of elevation for the masses, which are now those of 
all men. He purchased two thousand acres of land a few miles 
from Berne, known as Hofwyl, and devoted it to experiments 
which should prove the theories he advanced. He established a 
manufactory of instruments adapted to the different fields they 
were to till, and showed how a knowledge of the chemical 
nature of soils, of the physiology of plants, of natural history, 
and kindred subjects, enabled^ the farmer to overcome obstacles, 
and reap a thousandfold for his labour. But he did not instruct 
by precept alone. He toiled with the peasant in a peasant's 
frock, and often accompanied visitors around the establishment, 



BEENE. 385 

who did not suspect him of being the great man himself. His 
pleasant voice and cheerful smile were everywhere, as must al- 
ways be the case, with those who would make any impression 
upon the people they would elevate. 

He established also a school for orphans and the poor, where 
the teachers acted upon the same principle. They not only 
taught books and read homilies, but laughed, and played, and 
worked with the children. 

We visited the grave of the noble man, and thought "how 
strange and how sad that there should have been none on whom 
his mantle could fall when he ascended to heaven." The ruins 
do not testify to the impracticability of his sj'^stem, but those 
who inherited the property had no taste or talent, and especially 
no heart for such a work. The schools are still in successful 
operation, but the farms are no longer an agricultural school ; 
though the Federal Government has lately purchased a portion 
of the land to found a college and carry out the principles which 
there originated. 

In Thurgovie, at Kreuzlingen, at Hauterive in Friburg, and 
at Glarus, are institutions which are the offspring of Hofwyl; 
and agricultural societies were formed throughout Europe which 
are also the fruits of his labours. What a waste it would have 
been," indeed, of such a mind and soul to spend them in the idle 
and ridiculous ceremonies of European diplomacy ! 

The peasantry in the villages around Hofwyl are also proofs 
of the refining influence of a cultivated Christian man in their 
midst. The country is beautiful as fairyland. The fields with 
their rich harvests stretch away m broad prairies, dotted here 
and there with a smiling village, an ample farmhouse, or a 
humble cot, with orchards and gardens that speak of profusion, 

17 



THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

and the perfection of rural happiness. We entered a village 
store, a village schoolhouse, and the village church. 

The preacher was an old man, and like the Lutherans in Ger- 
many, he wore a gown and little black velvet cap. The church, 
like most of the Protestant churches in Switzerland, was plain to 
severity. The services began at eight o'clock, in order to finish 
while it was cool, and before we should get sleepy ; they were 
nearly the same as in America, except the baptism of four little 
babies, with their godfathers and godmothers dressed in black 
satin, with the white chemisette and silver chains which char- 
acterise the Bernese costume, and the little ones rolled up like 
mummies in white, handed on cushions. There was evidently 
quite an attempt at display on the part of the mammas, and 
they were not so entirely absorbed with the solemnity of the 
rite that they could not glance around to see if they were suffi- 
ciently admired. 

The schoolhouse was a two-story, square building, painted 
white, as we have since seen so many. Their school system is 
not old enough to admit of decayed buildings ; but it is now 
old enough to be well established and good. A century ago a 
teacher in the city received four dollars a year ! IN^ow there 
are schools in every commune, four high schools in the city, and 
one or two in every prefecture of the canton. 

In the Emmenthal, in the northeastern part, the villages are 
large and handsome, and those who are still called peasants are 
bankers and merchants, and extensive landowners. We do not 
know what position or dignity one must acquire in order to 
relinquish the title of peasant. We asked a young lady, who 
considered herself a patrician, if she knew any of the people in 
these fine houses, and she said, " Oh, no, we have nothing to do 
with peasants." 



BEKNE. 387 

We should have stopped at Brienz on our way from the 
Grimsel to Interlaken to describe the beautiful carvings in wood 
which are now so celebrated. An old man first cut little articles 
for his amusement, without any idea of selHng them, and had no 
idea of design. Others soon imitated him, and made little 
thmgs for ornament. Now it is a great industry, which sup- 
plies all the world, and the artists must have the genius of the 
sculptor. In a year, they delivered at a single market between 
thirty and thirty-five thousand dollars^ worth. The articles are 
everything that can be imagined for use or ornament, in carved 
work, and mosaics of different coloured woo&s. Tables are bor- 
dered with the national colours and costumes of the twenty-two 
cantons. We asked how much such a one would cost. The 
man answered without hesitation, *' We will dehver it in New 
York for twenty dollars." We had that moment arrived, and 
had not mentioned New York or America. So skilful they be- 
come in detecting the representatives of every nation. 

We were rowed over the lake by some pretty maidens, and 
saluted at the foot of the foaming Giesbach by a troop with 
cheerful song. Thirty years ago, a traveller mentions the same 
salutation, and we learn that a family on the opposite shore 
have been trained from generation to generation for this pur- 
pose. Before the steamer arrives, one collects the centimes, 
which reward them for their pains. Whilst this is being done, 
two travellers are chanting their prayers so loud that it causes a 
little disturbance. They evidently consider themselves bound to 
recite so many every morning, and not having risen early enough 
to accomphsh this task in private, they seize these few moments 
of waiting, and thus inform a large company of their devotion, 
as we do not understand what other purpose is answered by 
reading the Prayer-book aloud in public, instead of softly ; and 



388 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

think, also, that what had been put off till the eleventh hour 
might have been deferred a little longer, or that the lips might 
have breathed a few words which would have been as acceptable 
to Him "Who knoweth the heart from the beginning, who 
heareth in secret, and rewardeth openly." 

We cross the Lake of Thun, where we are again encircled by 
a snowy wreath, and though only an hour's ride from Brienz, 
presenting a combination of mountain, glacier, and gorge, as 
different as if they were in two hemispheres ; but from no point 
is the great chain of Alps so imposing, so grand, so beautiful, as 
from Berne. We return to them as to familiar friends, and say 
a long and last farewell, with a pang scarcely less poignant than 
that which the snapping of some human tie will cause. We 
recall a thousand scenes with pleasure — the lovely gardens on 
Zurich's banks, the villas reflected in Leman's blue waters, the 
rude features of Lucerne, the panorama from the Rhigi, hke a 
living picture, which needs no art to keep it for ever present to our 
vision. We still tremble as we think of the Via Mala, and the 
proud pinnacles of the Galknstock ; but Berne, had she only a 
mirror to reflect her beauties, would combine them all in one; so 
gracious and enchanting are her sunny summer landscapes smiling 
at the feet of those eternal snows. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

CONCLUSION. 

ATTACHMENT OF THE PEOPLE TO THEIR GOTERNMENT FEDERAL ASSEMBLY 

COUNCIL OF STATE — FEDERAL COUNCIL TRIBUNAL CONSTITUTION OFFI- 
CIALS — POSTAGE — NATIONALITY. 

We have traced the history of Switzerland from the beginning 
even to the end. We have seen the Httle band of brave moun- 
taineers, a httle handful, expand into a great and prosperous na- 
tion ; and the union which was at first that of only three men, and 
then of three states, became a confederacy of twenty-two sover- 
eign cantons. The homes they swore to defend were, at first, 
only a few rude huts of the wilderness, and their country bounded 
by the visible horizon. He who would know into what this 
wilderness has blossomed, and these homes expanded and beau- 
tified, must ascend the Khigi, and looked abroad upon a picture 
more lovely than anything pencil has painted, or dream of poet 
conceived. He who thinks Switzerland is less dear to her peo- 
ple as it is than as it was, can have very little idea of the ten- 
acity with which they clmg to a birthright which not all the 
golo of princely coffers could buy when it seemed scarcely more 
than a mess of pottage, and which they would not now barter 



390 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

as long as there was left a living soul to shed the last drop of 
blood in her defence.* 

We have sufficiently shown that the incessant revolutions and 
convulsions to which Switzerland was for centuries subject, were 
in no measure owing to the liberty she enjoyed ; but, on the 
contrary, to some defect in the Charter of Freedom, which kept 
them in constant clamour for more. They could not be content 
whilst fettered by a single bond. There was in their union some 
strong cementing prmciple, else it could not for ages have resist- 
ed the assaults from without and the oppressions from within 
which caused the fabric so often to totter, and by which it was 
so often shattered, but never destroyed. 

For a long time the cantons presented scarcely more than a 
series of broken links, without the genuine family tie, the true 
spirit of brotherhood, which could make them one, not only in 
name but in reality. The federal league was indissoluble, but it 
was weak. It did not secure to them nationality, neither the 
character abroad nor the strength at home which alone could 
enable them to take their place among the nations. This was 
their condition till 1802,f when Napoleon interfered, and per- 

♦ Our sheets go to press during the discussions concerning the annexation of Savoy 
and the neutral provinces on the Lake of Geneva. Some journals think it is very amus- 
ing and ridiculous that Switzerland should think of asserting and defending her rights, 
with her limited territory and limited means, but we do not understand why, when she 
has never yet failed to do so, never when lacking union and strength. We have had 
many a long conversation with the most mercenary and time-serving of her people, and 
verily believe there is not one who would not sacrifice the last centime for her glory, 
and whichever of the •' great powers " begins a contest with her will find it interminable, 
for though many times conquered, they never have been, and never will be, subdued. 

t The following table contains a list of the cantons, with the number of square miles 
in each, the population, and the date when each canton joined the Confederacy. It 
will be noticed that the first league was composed of three cantons in 1808, and that the 
Confederacy was not united or powerful until 1803, under the mediation of Napoleon, and 
was not joined by all the cantons until 1815. The country was finally organized under 



CONCLUSIOK. 



391 



formed for them the master-work of his life, grand because it 
was also good, the most glorious because it was the best. In 
France he insisted upon maintaining the unitary system, because 
he believed no other adapted to his people ; but in Switzerland 
he respected the federal principle, and made it the basis of the 
Ad of Mediation, which took place February 19th, 1803. The 

a constitution binding upon the whole republic, in 1848. The struggle for independence, 
freedom, and union has lasted through a period of five hundred and forty-five years : 



Aargau, or Argovie 

Appenzell , 

Basle , 

Berne 

Friburg 

St. GaU 

Geneva 

Glarus 

Graubiinden, or Griaona. 

Luzerne 

Neuchatel 

Schaff hausen 

Schwytz 

Soleure 

Tessino 

Thurgan, or Thurgovie. . 

Unterwalden 

Uri 

Valais 

Vaud 

Zug 

Zurich 



Total. 



Square Miles. 


Population. 


Date. 


511 


190,000 


1803 


149 


54,000 


1513 


192 


66,000 


1491 


2,576 


440,000 


1352 


564 


95,000 


1481 


744 


172,000 


1798 


93 


65,000 


1815 


276 


32,0110 


1352 


2,981 


92,000 


1798 


595 


128,000 


133 iJ 


297 


66,000 


1815 


117 


35,000 


1501 


340 


43,000 


1308 


255 


65,000 


1481 


1,044 


114,000 


1803 


266 


92,000 


1803 


266 


25,000 


1308 


426 


14,500 


1308 


1,667 


80,0' 


1475 


1,186 


203,000 


1798 


8") 


16,500 


1352 


683 


280,000 


1351 



15,315 



2,400,000 



The comparative size of Switzerland may be better known by reflecting that the area 
of the State of New York is three times greater — the former having 15,315 square miles, 
and the latter 45,658. Switzerland is not quite equal in surface to that part of New 
York lying west of the Hudson River and north of the Mohawk, including Oneida and 
Oswego counties, the difference being only about one hundred and ninety square miles. 
But while this part of New York supports only about 600,000 people, Switzerland supports 
four times as many. Switzerland is also more mountainous, and more northerly, lying 
between 45 deg. 60 min. and 47 deg. 49 min. north latitude, while all this part of New 
York lies between 43 and 45 deg. Hundreds of square miles of Switzerland are covered 
with perpetual snow and ice, while northern New York is every year relieved of its 
winter burden. If northern New York were crossed by good highways and railroads, it 
might become the Switzerland of America. 



392 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

ten years which followed were the most prosperous Switzerland 
had ever enjoyed. They then first learned to govern themselves. 
Tithes, restrictions, and prohibitions were abolished, and industry, 
commerce, and agriculture awoke from their long slumber, to 
open a horn of plenty, and pour broadcast its treasures. For 
the benefits which he conferred, the great conqueror required 
much treasure and much blood, yet they pardoned this and the 
ruthless devastation of his armies, in consideration of the good 
he did. Everywhere the " period of mediation " is spoken of as 
the golden era of their modern existence. When Napoleon fell, 
and the " great powers " again became arbiters, they destroyed 
the beautiful structure merely because it was the work of Napo- 
leon. Again the common good was sacrificed to cantonal and 
individual interest ; again they were tossed by convulsions 
and torn by dissensions. For fifteen years jealousies and rival- 
ries between the different states put an end to progress, and 
threatened the existence of the confederation. But now they 
learned thoroughly the evils of dissension, and the year 1830 saw 
the formation of the new constitution* for the good of the whole, 
and the revision of nearly every cantonal constitution better to 
promote their individual interests. 

They are now united in the Swiss Confederacy, and we must 
consider a little more minutely the different parts of the edifice 
which has proved so far to be exactly adapted to the wants of 
the republic, and promises for the future a glorious prosperity, 
which may well make the despots around them tremble, for it 
will demonstrate incontestably that freedom is the only state in 
which a people can become truly great or remain truly satisfied. 

The Federal Assembly is composed of two houses, " The 

* This was drawn up chiefly by M. Rossi, the distinguished jurisconsult of Geneva* 



CONCLUSION. 393 

Natianal Coundl,^^ and the " Council of StateP The former is 
composed of deputies chosen from among the people, one to 
every twenty thousand inhabitants. For there every man who 
has reached the age of twenty years is entitled to vote, provided 
he is not mcapacitated by crime or otherwise from exercising the 
rights of citizenship in his own canton. 

The Council of State is composed of forty-four deputies, two 
being elected from each canton, without reference to the number 
of inhabitants. The consent of both houses is necessary in 
order that any measure become a law, and the members vote 
without instructions. 

The Directorial Authority and Superior Executive is vested in 
a Federal Council, composed of seven members, each from a 
different canton, and retaining his office for three years. A 
president j^ro tern, is chosen from these seven counsellors, 
who enjoys a salary of about two thousand two hundred and 
fifty dollars,* and each of the ^other six members receiving 
during his term of office something under two thousand dollars 
per annum. Their duties are to watch over the good of the 
nation collectively, with reference to its external and internal 
affairs ; and when the assembly is not in session they can raise 
troops, if necessary, but with the reserve of convoking imme- 
diately the councils, if the number of troops raised exceeds two 
thousand, or if they remain in service more than two weeks. 
They render an account of their proceedings at each meeting of 
the assembly. 

There is also a Federal Tribunal for the administration of 
federal justice, and a court for the trial of penal offences. 

The two chambers in session elect the Federal Council, the 

♦ Half as much as a county oflQcial in Bavaria. 

17* 



394 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

commander-in-cliief of the federal army,* and the major-general. 
They contract foreign alliances, declare war, and conclude trea- 
ties of peace and commerce, take measures for external safety, 
the maintenance of independence and neutrality, and guarantee 
their territory and constitutions to the cantons. 

There are one hundred and fourteen articles in the federal 
constitution ; but we have sufficiently illustrated their pro- 
vision and spirit in the course of the work to make repetition 
unnecessary. Each canton retains its own legislation, its civil 
and penal justice, its system of taxation, and pubhc instruction, 
decides its relation between Church and State, and the disposi- 
tion of its military. 

The systeLn of rotation in office is the same in Switzerland as 
in America. There is not one office which is for life, if the peo- 
ple choose to change it. The judges are not only elective, but 
also very far from being chosen among the law-learned. They 
say the fitness of judge an(J jury depend on quahties of the 
heart rather than the mind ; and though monarchists, judging 
from theory, without any real knowledge of the facts, contend 
that it is impossible the duties of any office can be well per- 
formed without experience and knowledge, it does not appear that 
all pubhc duties are not as well executed in Switzerland as in 
any neighbouring land. No man thinks of an office of any kind 
as a means of livehhood. It is merely an honour which he 
enjoys for a little time, and he then quietly lays down his staff 
to take up his trade again.' When parties change, the principal 
incumbents are removed, as in America, which is in some re- 
spects an evil, but no greater, one would think, than a system 
which compels a whole phalanx of officials to swear truth and 

* At present General Dufour, who served under Napoleon, and is considered one of 
the ablest officers in Europe. 



CONCLUSION. 395 

fealty to whomsoever may be in power, whatever their name or 
principles. Those who had taken the oath of fidelity to king 
and emperor in Russia and Austria, hesitated not to take the 
same to Napoleon when the fortunes of war gave him the right 
to rule over them. In France we see a similar body promising 
to be true to the king in 1190, and a few years later crying, 
'' Down with the king, and long live the republic." On their 
offices depended their daily bread ; and when Napoleon seized 
the sceptre, they were as ready to crown the emperor as to 
dethrone a king, and when his fortunes waned, to support the 
restoration.* Those who received a staff from Charles X. or 
Louis Phihppe were just as ready in 1841 to wield it for the 
repubhc, and now are not the less loyal to the Third Napoleon. 
They are only true to him who will secure to them the means of 
life, by whatever name he may be called. They do not profess 
to have either principles or opinions. They are merely part of 
a vast machinery, turned by something more fickle than the 
wind, and ruled by something stronger than iron. This is an 
evil which those of a republic have not to fear. If they suffer 
from the instability of their official corps, they have not to dread 
the more fearful stability of a large and well-organized class of 
men embodying a power secured only to that of the army, ready 
at any time to perjure themselves and sell their country to any 
usurper who will promise them in return the pittance which is 
to keep them from penury and starvation. Any one who has 
experienced their immobility and indifference to everything ex- 
cept government interest, might be ready to pray for almost any 
revolution that should give them a httle more sympathy with 
humanity. 

♦ " The king is dead, long live the king," is the expression the moment one is dead 
and another is proclaimed. 



396 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

The military system * was illustrated in the history of Neu- 
chatel, and the school system of each canton in connexion with 
the development of its resources. 

The prosperity of the little republic in commerce, manufactures, 
and agriculture, is known to all the world ; and a very common 
subject of reproach is their mercenary spirit, their materialism, 
and the absence of all that is poetic and artistic. One author, 
who likes them on the whole, says, ''There is a little too much 
of the money-making spirit of North America." Exactly what 
this means we have never been able to learn, as we have never 
yet found people of any nation to differ very much in this respect. 
The difference consists in the means to which they apply them- 
selves to arrive at the same end, and the capacity they bring t-^ 
the accomplishment of it. The same freedom in every country 
of Europe that exists in America, England, and Switzerland, 
would awake to the same life the stolid, stupefied, slumbering 
populace. But there would then be lacking the resources of 
America, which open a path to every human effort and concep- 
tion, and to which, quite as much as to her people, the great 
wealth and prosperity are owing. These might be multiphed 
even in Europe by removing the trammels and opening the ways 
now made inaccessible to trade and commerce by tariffs, taxes, 
and prohibitions. Nothing annoys an American so much in the 
Old World, as the littleness in all business transactions, from the 
manufacturer to the concierge. They know nothing about doing 
things on a grand scale. Everything is bought and sold by the 
ounce, and this is according to a settled system of things, for the 

* The whole expense of the millitary is at most $555,000 

The amount of salaries paid to officials 555,000 

The united revenues of the Federal Government and Cantons . . . 845,000 
The whole expense of the Government, including military, manufac- 
ture of powder, coinage, debts, etc $8,689,850 



CONCLUSION. 39T 

purpose of supporting several grades of intermediate personages, 
who have no other means of livelihood than a species of menial- 
ism, such as these very people would consider it the lowest 
degradation to practise in America. It would take no more 
time for them to learn the science of honourable commerce and 
industry than the petty details of fraud and exaction, and it 
would add infinitely to their nobility of character ; and if they 
spent a hundredth part of the calculation in making dollars that 
they do in saving kreutzers, centimes, and sous, their seuls would 
expand accordingly. "VVe have never found them otherwise dis- 
posed towards British or American gold than to get as much of 
it as possible, and however lavishly expended, it is by no means 
despised. 

This pettishness and dishonesty are no more characteristic of 
the Swiss than any other Europeans. We are of course speak- 
ing of the lower classes. They have more energy, are more 
original, and more inventive, because there are more incite- 
ments, and a better reward for their labour. The great corps 
of officials and soldiers who are supported in other countries in 
idleness, are here engaged in remunerative employments. Their 
government is not expensive, they are not restrained by prohi- 
bitions, there is no direct taxation, and no tariff * that is felt as 
the least weight upon the people. In commerce they are next 
to England, though they have not a mile of sea-coast ; and, as 
we have elsewhere said, there is no other country where agricul- 
ture yields so great profits, though the land is divided into 
almost infinitesimal parcels. 

If there are persons still who would depreciate the Swiss in 
respect to intelligence and sentiment as compared with those 

* The highest duty for luxuries ia about three dollars per quintal. 



398 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

around them, the statistics coQcerning newspapers, letters, and 
telegraphs may influence their opinions, if these may be taken 
as any criterion by which to judge. Those are likely to create 
the greatest facilities for promoting the culture of the mind and 
heart who most highly appreciate it. 

The Federal Government did not assume the direction and 
expense of the post-ofiBce department till 1850 ; and during the 
five years which succeeded this change, the number of letters 
and packages increased more than a million, and the number of 
newspapers and travellers more than doubled. One sou is the 
lowest, and three sous the highest, postage for a letter from one 
p«int to another within the limits of Switzerland, and packages 
are in proportion. We give the number of letters transported 
in five different countries during the year 1856. 

Great Britain . 11S millions — to each person 1'7'25 

Prance ... 252 " " 1 

Prussia . . . 110^ " " 6-42 

Austria ... 54 " " 1-11 

Switzerland . 23| " " 9.88 

It will be seen that Switzerland is next to England in the 
number of letters passing through her post offices in proportion 
to her people.* 

Newspapers are not subject to a stamp, and the postage is 

* A single telegraphic despatch to any part of Switzerland is twenty sous, and 
Prussia, with eight times as many inhabitants, sends not so many messages by several 
thousand. We append the number of stations in different countries of nearly the same 
size: 

Belgium 42 Netherlands 23 Saxony 25 

Sardinia 59 Wurtemberg 22 Swit£erland 107 

Bavaxia 29 



CONCLUSION. 399 

lower than in either of the countries mentioned, amounting in a 
year — 

In Switzerland for a daily sheet weighing an ounce and a half 2 75 

" Germany for the same amount and distance Y Vo 

" France 14 60 

England, including stamps 32 86 

It is the principle of the government to secure the welfare of 
the whole, rather than luxuries for a few. There are at pre- 
sent no palaces and no castles except those of Nature's adorn- 
ing, but the establishments for the poor and sick are truly 
princely ; and no object of benevolence fails for want of interest 
or support. The Swiss are accused of being cold and heartless 
— and we have seen those who deserved the accusation richly — 
but that the simple, unsophisticated people are less warm, cor- 
dial, and generous than those around them, we did not find. 
They do not talk sentiment so fluently as some, but sentiment 
is very far from being heart ; and we have seen it proved 
abundantly, that an appreciation and cultivation of the fine arts 
is no proof of mind or elevation of character. Yet that there 
are no immense galleries, not so much of the artistic in archi- 
tecture, is no evidence, in Switzerland or America, that art is 
not appreciated. The Swiss demolished the castles, not because 
they were beautiful, but because they were to them associated 
with tyranny, barbarity, and everything base and contemptible 
in humanity. This is the motive which has destroyed them in 
every country. Those who built them and mhabited them were 
the veriest boors that ever crossed a threshold. Art could not 
be to those who knew them, and cannot be to any one who has 
studied the history of nations, the representative of the highest 
civilization ; but without any appreciation of it there must cer- 



400 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

tainly be lacking one of its most important elements. The pro- 
portion of artists which Switzerland has produced is certainly 
very great ; and the greatest number of the dreamy wanderers 
among the ruins and galleries of the Old World are English and 
Americans. When they are so far civilized in Europe as to 
dispense with standing armies and standing officials — without 
which at present no throne could be sustained a day — they will 
see their material interests advance in geometrical ratio ; but, 
as a consequence, art need not fall backward, nor the people 
understand or admire it less.* 

Those who infer from the noisy and disputatious elections in 
Switzerland that they are a turbulent, law-defying, and dis- 
contented people, depart as widely from the truth. They are 
very tenacious of the privilege of " speaking their minds," and 
of exercising the '^ right of suffrage ;" but, like Americans, 
when they have done this, if defeated, they submit and wait till 
the next opportunity for victory. With their gova:nment and 
institutions they are perfectly content. 

It is said there are many traitors in their midst, who would 
much prefer to become the subjects of France, or some other 
princedom, to remaining the simple citizens of a republic ; who 
would not hesitate to deliver their land to pillage, and see their 
brethren torn by wolves, in order to be rewarded with the 
gilded trappings of a court, and an empty title that would desig- 
nate them as the parasites of a throne ; and there are a few of 

* The army of France costs exactly the same as the whole American Government ; 
while the sum expended for education is the same as that appropriated for the one city 
of New York — six millions of francs.* 

In the State of Ohio the tax for education is twelve per cent., and this does not 
include the fund from the sale of lands devoted to this object, while in England the 
tax for educational purposes is only two per cent. 

* Report of Ibe Minister of Public Instruction. 



CONCLTJSIOlSr. 401 

this class we know, but a few so worthless that they do not 
deserve to be numbered with the Swiss people, who are one and 
all the loyal subjects of the Confederacy, and would at any 
moment sacrifice for it their "lives, their fortunes, and their 
sacred honour." 

It is said also that kings and emperors have not yet given up 
the strife — have not ceased to intrigue, especially at Geneva 
and Neuchatel, with the hope of gaining, either by gold or 
diplomacy, these coveted provinces ; and that if not successful, 
ere another year a French army will stand on their borders to 
demand what they will then not have the power to refuse. For 
ourselves, we do not believe Napoleon III., ambitious and wily 
as he may be, is capable of such baseness ; but if he is, we can 
only say let him try ; he will have a fruitful soil the next year, 
watered with the blood of thousands. 





APPENDIX. 



I. 



It is to be regretted that there is no comprehensive and popular history of 
Switzerland in the English language, and until within a year there existed none 
in any language. English readers are familiar with a few important events, 
which the guide-books have transcribed from German authors, though we 
have seldom found them correct in facts or dates, and much less in opinions. 
For the material of the following summary we are indebted to the folio 
volumes entitled "La Suisse Historique," and. "La Suisse Pittoresque," 
published lately in Geneva; the chapters concerning the different cantons 
being furnished by various learned men and popular authors from each. We 
have also consulted the twenty volumes of Chronicles in German, entitled 
"Gemalde der Schweiz," recording the minutest particulars of history, 
chronology, and statistical information concerning every canton. The atten- 
tion just now attracted towards Switzerland has led us to believe that the 
connecting links we here furnish will be traced with interest by all who wish 
thoroughly to understand her position and resources. 

The people of Switzerland, considered in any light, cannot be understood 
without a knowledge of their history. What they are we cannot at all 
appreciate without knowing what they were. And if any author, centuries 
since, had given us in detail the life of the " shepherds on the hills," we 
might transcribe it almost literally ; for those who watch the herds and tend 
the flocks have not changed, and hundreds of years hence will probably see 
them nearly the same. Unless by some strange convulsion these mountains 

403 



404 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

should be levelled into plains, or man should no more require flesh and milk 
for food, the Alps must ever present the same scenes ; for no other inhabitants 
can people their solitudes, and in no other way can they be made to con- 
tribute to the support of human life. 

Two thousand years before Christ, some parts of the country were in- 
habited, but anything definite concerning the people cannot be known until 
the Romans became their masters. They were accustomed to denominate all 
who dwelt to the north beyond their own limits. Hyperboreans, and the mys- 
terious regions which the Alps hid from their view and protected from their 
aggressions they believe to be the workshop of Cyclops, where blazed con- 
tinually his mighty forge. 

There are many evidences that their religion was that of the Druids.* 
They worshipped a God whom they called " All Fater," Father of All, and 
whom they believed to be omnipotent and omnipresent. They worshipped 
also the sun, and moon, and stars as his agents. They believed he lived 
in the forests, and would be angry if they were destroyed. But to kill the 
ferocious animals who peopled them was a proof of heroism which was 
pleasing in his sight. Among the Alps animals were regarded with a kind 
of homage, but not as gods. Fire, air, and water were also invoked as 
mediators, which was the case among all simple people. Where the mind 
is uncultivated, and the power of the spirit not in the ascendency, some- 
thing tangible and which their eyes can behold is needed, which leads them 
to the Great Invisible ! 

Some of their relics, and many of their customs, indicate a Scandinavian 
origin, and there are also traces of the Persians and the people of the East. 
In the time of Julius Caesar they were no more in number than the present 
population of one of their cities. Yet in their earliest history are discovered 
the elements of a confederacy ; and some have ascribed to each canton a 
tribe, or clan, and over each a chief, who ruled by military force. They 
may have originated in many countries ; those who settled in the North per- 
haps in Germany ; in the south-east are many traces of the Etruscans, and in 
the south-west, of the Celts and Greeks. Old chronicles say, Francus de- 
scended from Priam, son of Troy, and the Helvetians from Hell, son of Gomer, 
grandson of Japhet : or Franc may be from a Greek word meaning sincere, 
and the Helvetians, sons of Hell, from their ferocity. 

They were found divided into classes ; nobles, including those who be- 
longed to the religious or military order, and plebeians, who had been slaves 
but were now either entirely free, or having been made so, experienced still 
some restraints. 

* Not the least curious of these testimonies to the existence of this curious order of 
priesthood are what are termed the Druid's foot^ a symbol in the form of two equi- 
lateral triangles linked together thus ^, and which are to be seen on some of the old 

houses in cities still, bearing the name of the Druid's foot, though those who placed it 
there probably did not know what it meant, and those who now walk out and in be- 
neath it know still less. Like the Penates of Rome, it is preserved as a link with the 
days of old, and reverenced for some virtue their forefathers supposed it possessed. 



APPENDIX. 405 

It was a century before the Christian era that the Romans sent to explore 
Helvetia, and on the shores of Lake Constance was fought the first battle, 
when Diviko was the Helvetian hero. To trace the progress and conse- 
quences of Roman conquest is not necessary ; they were the same every- 
where. But in the words of one of their own historians, " though often con- 
quered, they were never subject, for a civilization perfected under a yoke 
and in chains has no sure foundation." 

Traces of the reUgion, laws, manners, and customs of the Romans are 
abundant. Both Basle and Geneva were Roman colonies, and the names of 
the family of Caesar will be seen on milestones from Valais to Vevay, Ville- 
neuve, and Zug. 

Towards the end of the second century the Germans drove the Romans 
from the northern part of Helvetia and established themselves as permanent 
possessors. Their religion taught the sacrifice of human victims, and the first 
Christian missionaries found the hands of the people of Zurich imbrued in 
human blood. So late as 640 were still found traces of these heathen altars, 
and the fires are still kindled on their mountains, which form one of the links 
in the chain to prove the faith of their fathers. 

The inhabitants of the south-eastern part were more peaceful in their na- 
ture, and became, in a measure, incorporated with their conquerors, con- 
senting to live under the same laws and to speak the same language. So 
early as the second century there were flourishing Christian communities on 
the banks of Lake Leman, and, long before this, they believe their soil to 
have been hallowed by the footsteps of Paul, who stopped in Geneva on his 
way to France, where he built a church ; and Peter to have preached the 
Gospel in Valais. Their disciples were scattered everywhere, and in some 
cantons earned the glory and the crown of martyrdom. 

But the Christian religion was an essential auxiliary to the policy of 
France, and it was after her conquests and during her reign that Christianity 
was propagated thi'oughout Helvetia. Burgundiau, German, Gothic, and 
Lombard became subject to France, and later, when Charlemagne was their 
king, here was the centre of his vast empire and the radiating point of his 
influence. Switzerland abounds still more than Germany in traditions, 
legends, and authentic histories concerning him. He was obliged to cross 
their mountains on his way to Italy, and brave Swiss are said to have formed 
his advance guard in his transalpine conquests, and for their courage and 
fidelity to have received the famous trumpets which have played so conspi- 
cuous a part in their own historical battles, called the bull of Uri, the cow of 
Unterwald, and the horn of Lucerne. Their popular songs are full of recitals 
which refer to his exploits, and though many be only legendary, it is matter 
of history that he built churches, established monasteries, and patronized 
science. He modified the feudal system, which had been introduced by the 
German invaders,* and with him ended the reign of unbridled barbarism. 
His missionaries taught at St. Gall, Zurich, and in Valais. 

* Feudalism existed in Switzerland in all its phases as it did in Germany, but it 
would be unnecessary to enlarge upon it here. 



406 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

It was under the Carlovingian princes that the first settlements among the 
high Alpine forests were made. Those who would fell the trees and cultivate 
the land were promised special privileges. They were to be owners in their 
own right of the soil they cleared, and to choose their judges from among 
themselves. The people of the plain and low countries, subject to lords who 
reaped the fruit of their labours, were thus induced to incur the perils of the 
wilderness, and were also out of the way of the hordes of barbarians who 
were continually infesting the land. They at first followed the courses of 
the large rivers, and then of those which led them into the lateral valleys, 
ascending the mountains by degrees, gradually increasing in numbers, till 
they were a strong power by themselves, ready to defy those who pursued 
them. In these solitudes, and by this mountain air, was matured that spirit 
of liberty which all the despots of Europe have not been able to crush. 
Though they fell by thousands and tens of thousands in their battles, they 
rose again from their ashes, with increased strength and a more terrible 
might, not only to resist but to endure. 

Uri, Schwytz, and Unterwald, were long known as the Forest Cantons, 
thus indicating the nature of the country and the position of the people who 
inhabited it. So early as 857, we read that '• the herdsmen of Uri met thofee 
of Glarus in the high pastures of Unerhoden." 

But it was under the Dukes of Zaringen, a powerful race of Burgundiau 
nobles, that flourishing cities were founded, and prosperous villages began 
to dot the till then desolate plains of Helvetia. Being defeated in their wars 
with the German emperor, in the twelfth century, and humbled by the Bishop 
of Geneva, they turned their attention to Switzerland, and attempted to gain 
power and influence by promoting the interests of the people. They built 
cities, which were speedily filled with an enterprising population, whose 
trade and commerce were great sources of revenue. The burghers were ever 
oppressed, and therefore ever at war with the feudal lords, and this new 
prosperity became new source of dissension. But the people of the sur- 
rounding country united with the citizens, and they were soon able to brave 
the power of their haughty masters. The commune, or village, was the com- 
mencement of the modern canton. Helvetia had been divided into g-aus, or 
districts, by the Romans, and which they called pagi, and Western Helvetia 
parcelled by the Burgundian kings ; but this was only for the purpose of 
levying taxes and supporting armies. No privileges were enjoyed except by 
the conquerors; the people being mere slaves to obey their mandates. But 
now, while Frederic Barbarossa was employed in crusades and quarrels with 
the popes, the principle of communal liberty which was taking root in the soil 
he scarcely thought worth his attention, and these germs served as the begin- 
ning of the constitutional freedom and legislative codes of modern society. Here 
were the seeds of the tree which now casts its protecting shadows over the 
land. But the lords and bishops did not long slumber over this new state of 
things. They saw the danger which threatened their supremacy, and during 
the temporary absence of Berthold V. assembled their forces to conquer and 
tA]:e possession of his kingdom. 

But he returned in season to defeat their plans ; and having now become 



APPENDIX. 407 

so powerful by the multiplication, not of armies, but of peaceful subjects, he 
was considered worthy of the imperial crown, which was offered him by the 
Guelphs. This he refused, and after long struggles with the prince of Savoy 
and the death of his two sons, he returned to his castle in Friburg, in Brisgau, 
where he died, February 14th, 1218, the last of the Zaringen dukes, and with 
whom terminated their reign in Switzerland. It was now again united to the 
German empire. But the immediate government was entrusted to counts 
and landgrafs, who by inheritance and conquest soon became rich and pow- 
erful enough to vie with the emperor whose vassals they were. 

The most illustrious of these families, whose history is most intimately con- 
nected with that of Switzerland, were those of the counts of Alsace and Argo- 
vie, usually at that time denominated Hapsburg, from a castle they possessed 
near Aarau, in the canton of Aargau, and who owned vast estates in Helvetia. 
Kudolph II., fifth heir of his line, inherited in 1240 all these lands and titles, 
with an ambition still more grasping and insatiable, and which was at length 
rewarded by the imperial crown, after years of long and bloody wars with 
the equally aspiring house of Savoy. Having at first neither time not power 
to subdue them, he made continual concessions to the people of the Forest 
Cantons, who were ever complaining of encroachments upon their rights. 
Whilst he lived there was no serious revolt, but immediately upon his death, 
and the accession of his son, they began to talk of unions and associations 
for mutual protection. The first proposition was made by Zurich, and se- 
conded by the Forest Cantons. Their first written treaty of alliance is a memo- 
rable document, which was not discovered till the end of the last century, when 
a Latin copy was found among the archives of Schwytz, and a German copy in 
Stanz, Canton Unterwald, both bearing the date August 12, 1291. We give 
it entire : — 



" In the name of the Lord. Amen. 

" This is to protect our honour and to watch over the public good, to con- 
solidate peace and tranquillity. Be it then known to each and all, that the 
people of the valley of UjH^ the general assembly of Schwytz, and the moun- 
taineers of the lower valleys, considering the crisis of the present time, have 
promised in good faith, in order to be better able to defend their persons and 
goods, to afford reciprocal aid with money and arms, within and without the 
valleys, against those who shall do violence to one or all, or any wrong what- 
ever to their persons or goods. We renew by the present act our ancient 
form of confederation, in such a manner, however, that each of us who has a 
lord shall be bound to render him obedience, and to serve him conformably 
to his condition and duty. 

" We have resolved unanimously not to receive or to admit into our valleys 
any judge who has bought his office with money, or who does not dwell 
among us, and is not our countryman. If there should arise any dissension 
among the confederates, the most prudent among them shall interfere to re- 
concile the parties, and if in any case one shall reject the decision, the others 



408 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

shall oblige it to submit. These ordinances are to establish our good, and 
contribute to our prosperity. In testimony whereof this present act has re- 
ceived the seal of the three communities and valleys aforesaid.'' 

By this is proved that they had no idea of an3'thing but continuing subjects 
of the empire, and their league was merely to protect themselves against the 
tyranny and usurpations of inferior agents, who resided in their midst, and 
could not endure to see them enjoying rights and privileges which every- 
where else were considered the peculiar prerogatives of what they termed 
" rank and birth." The emperor himself often disapproved of the acts of the 
baihflfs, but so far away could not control them. 

These transactions took place towards the close of the last crusade, which 
had fanned the spirit of liberty In every part of Europe. 

On the death of Rudolph of Hapsburg, the imperial crown was again dis- 
puted between his son Albert and the house of Nassau, and in this contest 
Switzerland was divided, Berne and Zurich preferring the latter, and the 
other principal cities choosing to remain subject to Austria. But in the 
developments of the projects of the family of Hapsburg they soon learned 
that they had no permanent good to expect from their rule. Albert, having 
several sons, wished to provide them all with a domain suitable to their rank, 
and formed the plan of subduing Helvetia entirely to his will, to be dismem- 
bered and parcelled as he pleased. He also wished to control the Alpine 
passes, in order to open a free way for bis army into Italy. He at first 
attempted to treat with them, but unfortunately his emissaries were coarse 
and vulgar, insulting the people whom they came to conciliate, and hasten- 
ing the strife they were sent to appease. 

It is here that the story of Tell and Gessler appears, which has been pub- 
lished in every spelling-book and primer since spelling-books and primers 
were known.. The beautiful drama of Schiller has made all their contem- 
poraries and the events of the time familiar in every language, and the stage 
has given them a reality that makes them seem not things of the past but of 
the present — a part of our own experience. There have been those who denied 
the truth of the story of Tell and the apple— denied the existence of Tell at all ; 
and one author wrote a treatise to prove that the whole was merely a legend, 
and very similar to one prevalent in Denmark. The Government ordered all 
the copies to be collected and burned. In every cottage the picture of the 
" three men of Grutli " hangs upon the wall. Like the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, with its thirty-one signers, in America, it is a household god. It 
is the first storj'- the mother teaches to her lisping child, and the watchword 
with which every son is inspired to bend the bow aifd point the arrow. It 
it in every school-book, the title-page of every almanac, and decorates the 
council chamber, the rich man's parlour, and the village inn. "We often tried 
the effect of doubting it, and were always amused with the indignation with 
which such an idea was received. "Do you really suppose there were any 
such persons, and that these things actually happened?" "To be sure we 
do ; we know it very well. It is in our history. Why, indeed, it is all true ; 
we know exactly where they all lived." We soon learned that if we wished 



(- 



APPENDIX. 409 

for any favour in their eyes, we must not even for our amusement express 
any doubts about one of those heroic deeds of which they are still so proud ; and 
not having really any doubt about them ourselves, we did not care to incur 
their ill-will for nothing. It would have been about the same if any one had 
said to us, " Washington was a tyrant, or anything less than the greatest and 
best of men." Whoever should say it in earnest might never again hope to 
1?G the friend of an American. And we really think any person who should, 
on Swiss soil, deny any portion of their honour to the men of Gfutli would 
be banished without mercy. 

Gessler was one of the bailiflTs sent by Albert of Hapsburg either to pacify 
or subdue the people, and said "he would soon make them so tame and soft 
that he could wind them round his little finger." His castle was in K'iiss- 
nacht., on the north side of the Watdstdtter See. As he was one day return- 
ing from Uri, he passed through Steinen, and saw the house of Werner 
Stauffacher, who was one of the chief men of Canton Schwytz, and one whom 
Gessler knew to be a friend of freedom. Hating him, and wishing to show 
his power, he said, "The house was too fine for a peasant; he could not 
allow that the people have houses like the lords of the land." Stauffacher, 
knowing that it was meant for a threat, was dispirited, and on returning 
home his wife noticed the change in his usually pleasant countenance. She 
asked of him the reason, and heard the insult which he had received — he had 
been called a clown ; and this was not enough, he must live like the brutes 
in his stalls. She was still more indignant, and exclaimed, "Why do men 
bear these things? How long shall pride laugh and humility weep? Of 
what use that houses are inhabited by men? Shall we mothers raise sons for 
beggars, and daughters to be slaves to strangers?" Her husband did not 
answer, but went out silently, and crossed the lake from Brunnen, to his 
friend, Walter Fiirst^ who lived at Attinghausen. 

Henry an der Walden lived in the valley of Melchthal in Canton Unter- 
wald, and owned also large fields, which he cultivated. The Bailiff of Lan- 
denberg, upon some slight pretence, accused him of disrespect, and confis- 
cated his property. One day, while ploughing his field, his oxen were seized 
and led away, at which he was so exasperated that he entered the castle, 
struck the servant of the bailiff in his face and fled. A messenger came to 
seek him, and his father said he was not at home, and he knew not where he 
was. He also had taken refuge in Uri with Walter Fiirst. In revenge, they 
bound the aged Melchthal and dug out his eyes. 

One of the lieutenants of this same, bailiff of Landenburg was one day pass- 
ing the house of a peasant near Engelberg, who had a beautiful wife. For a 
pretence, he ordered her to prepare him a bath, which she dared not refuse, 
and whilst doing so he insulted her. She fled to her husband, Conrad, who, 
enraged, entered the house, and struck the wretch with his hatchet. He too 
was obliged to flee, and sought refuge in Uri : and the house of Fiirst was 
the general rendezvous of those who experienced similar indignities. These 
became so frequent, that endurance was no longer possible to their chafed 
spirits, and they began to talk seriously of revolt. 

The three principal men, Walter Fiirst, Werner Stauffacher, and Arnold an 

18 



410 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

der Walden, held secret and serious council, and in order to be secure from 
intrusion and the spies of their enemies, chose a spot which then was far from 
any human habitation, and distant from any path man would be likely to tread. 

The lake of the Forest Cantons, or in the language of the country, the 
Vierwaldstaetter- See, stretches during its greatest length exactly east and 
west ; but at Brunnen, suddenly turning a bold promontory, it forms a right 
angle, which gives to the remaining portion the direction of north and south. 
This southern arm is sometimes called thecal/ ofFluelen, from the port at its 
extremity, where it receives the Eeuss, which, having come down from the 
St, Gothard, flows through the lake and on to where it joins the Ehine* 
About a mile below the promontory, at the foot of a rocky ledge, is a little 
spot conspicuous from the bright green of its verdure. This is Griitli, or Riitli, 
the secret place, where the three met whom history calls " honest conspira- 
tors," to talk of what could be done to free the land from their oppressors. 
Each agreed to enlist ten from his own canton, and thus form a little band to 
be ready in any case of emergency, or at the appointed time to attack the 
castles, and banish the whole train of foreign bailiffs from among them. 

The castle of Ratzberg was the first among the doomed ones to fall. A 
young damsel who was servant to its lord had a lover among the conspirators, 
and it was agreed that she should admit him by a ladder at night to her room ; 
and through his aid several of his companions ascended in the same manner. 
On the next morning. January 1st, 1308, the devout proprietors being at 
church, unaware Avhom they had left to "keep the castle," it was taken pos- 
sion of, and after delivering the goods and chattels to the proper owners, de- 
stroyed by fire. 

It was the custom to make the Lord of Landenberg presents on New Year's 
morning of goats and kids, poultry, grain, and whatever they had, the produce 
of their labour. The peasants resolved to observe the custom with a more 
generous oflFering than usual ; and so a large party came with their gifts, that 
when the doors were opened they entered without resistance. There is 
something a little revolting in such treachery, which can only be excused by 
considering the worse than treachery they had experienced. 

The oath to which they were all bound, was " To remain true to each other 
till death ; not to act separately ; to protect their ancient rights and free- 
dom; and also not to harm the people, cattle, or goods of the Count of Haps- 
burg ; to banish the bailiff and dependents ; to shed no drop of useless 
blood;. but the freedom and rights they had received from their fathers to 
transmit undiminished to their children. 

Thus remarks a Scottish author : "These poor mountaineers in the four- 
teenth century furnish perhaps the only example of insurgents, who, at the 
moment of revolt, bound themselves as sacredly to be just and merciful to 
their oppressors as to be faithful to each other, and we may add, who carried 
out their intentions." 

In the pictures of the " Three men of Grutli,^^ they are represented as 
clasping the left hands and holding the right aloft with the thumb and two 
fore-fingers raised, the others shut into the palm. Their dress is the skins of 
animals fashioned differently, according to the idea of the artist. 



APPENDIX. 411 

Tell had married the daughter of Walter Fiirst, and thus being the son-in- 
law of the chief conspirator was of course admitted to their councils. His 
name is said to signify rash, or to talk without reason, which corresponds to 
the English signification, a similarity whch is very striking between many of 
the Swiss and English Avords. In the history of Tell, his character seems to 
have acquired for him the name, or else the name was given him in conform- 
ance to very early exhibitions of an impulsive nature, or it may have been by 
accident, as often happens, though no great occasion reveals it to the world. 
But whether he was rightly named or not, his rashness came very near mar- 
ring their well-planned scheme. He lived in Burglen, in Canton Uri, not far 
from Attinghausen,' and became one of the thirty who were to surprise the 
castles. 

The tyrant Gessler had observed, or his fears led him to think he had, 
certain signs of discontent among the people, which prompted him to put 
their loyalty to the proof. It being market-day in Altdorf, which is between 
Attinghausen and Burglen, and was probably the centre then of the scattered 
population, he caused a pole to be erected, upon which his cap was hung, 
and all who passed by were commanded to pay it homage. An unusual num- 
ber were gathered together, and Tell at length observed a commotion in the 
crowd, which attracted him to the spot where the pole stood. Pretending 
not to see it, he marched proudly by, making no signs of doflQug his cap as the 
others had all done. This being remarked, he was seized and ordered to bow 
to the signal, or the dungeon would be his punishment. This he refused, and 
the tyrant drew near, evidently not displeased with an act of disobedience 
which would give him occasion to exercise his power, and fill the people with 
terror. Suddenly the thought struck him that Tell was a famous archer, and 
a fiendish smile crossed his coarse visage as he said : " You are renowned in 
the land ; you shall buy your freedom with your skill. They say at a distance 
of a hundred paces your arrow never fails. The distance being measured, 
you shall cleave an apple from the head of your son." On hearing this, the 
•whole multitude uttered an involuntary cry of indignation at the heartless 
cruelty of the tyrant ; and the bold forester who had never known fear, and 
for himself would never have prayed for mercy, threw himself upon his knees 
and begged with tears that he might not be made the murderer of his child. 
But he stood before one who had never known mercy, and though aged men 
offered their lives to save their friend from so revolting a deed, it was only 
the more triumphantly commanded ; — the greater the suffering he could in- 
flict, the more he exulted. All remonstrances being in vain, the arrows were 
selected, the paces counted, and the little boy placed at the end of the line 
beneath a linden-tree, to which he refused to be bound, saying, " He would 
not move or wink, and had no fear, for he knew he should receive no harm 
from his father's hand." Still the father hesitated, made weak by his love 
and horror of the crime he feared to commit. Three times he bent the bow 
and let it fall unstrung. The stillness of death reigned in the circle of strong 
men, while hearts that never beat before with terror, throbbed convulsively. 
Mothers wept and clasped their children in speechless agony. Every eye was 
strained to painful intensity. Every spirit breathed a prayer to heaven. At 



412 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

length a wild shout proclaimed that it was finished. The arrow winged its 
way unerringly, and the father raised his eyes to heaven and cried : " God, 
I thank thee !" The next moment the boy was pressed to his bosom. Ashe 
knelt, a second arrow fell from its hiding-place in the folds of his vest of cha- 
mois, and Gessler coming near demanded to what purpose it had been 
destined. Fearing a repetition of the terrible command, the tongue of the 
brave archer faltered. " Nay, tell me the truth, why have you concealed 
this arrow ?" Now standing erect, and with a glance which made the 
tyrant cower, he said, " To pierce thy heart, monster, had I killed my child." 

He had promised life if the shot did not fail, and this promise he did no,*; 
dare to break ; but he said, " I know your rebellious spirit, and will bind it in 
chains which no man can loosen. You shall live, but in a dungeon so deep 
that neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, can penetrate its darkness." Amidst 
the mufiBed execrations of the populace, he was seized and bound, no one 
offering again remonstrance or interference, and taken to the little skiflf 
which lay moored in the Haven of Pluelen. The day of retribution was near; 
they had not long to smother their wrath. 

But scarcely had they embarked, when a wild storm arose. The sea was 
lashed into fury, and the boatsmen plied their oars in vain. " We are lost !" 
they exclaimed. The darkness of night spread over the scene, and the flash- 
ing lightning and echoing thunder seemed to the simple people the voice of 
God denouncing judgment against him who was, in the eyes of One who 
searcheth the heart, a murderer. They asked that Tell might be set free, for 
he was as skilful in guiding the helm as in bending the bow, and his arm 
might yet save them from a watery grave. Their prayers were at first in 
vain ; but the storm becoming more fearful, and death, the grim mes- 
senger before whom the guilty, however mighty, must tremble, seeming 
evident, the cords were commanded to be cut. The strong, brave man was 
free. He took the oars, and strange it seemed to the old mariners, who had 
resigned them in despair, as they beheld the boat obey him like a thing of 
life. It darted like the arrow he had so successfully winged, but not to its« 
destined port. Unheeded, he neared the shore, to where an opening in the 
cliffs made it probable to him to secure a foothold on the rocks, and by a 
sudden spring, he leaped and stood defiant before them on land, while the 
boat was tossed back upon the waters. Only an instant he remained fixed 
upon the spot, and bounded into the forest. The little bark danced at will 
upon the waves till the storm abated, when they guided it into port at Brun- 
nen, and took their way over the mountains to Kussnacht. 

But an unquenchable thirst for revenge was kindled in the heart of the 
injured father. With the stealth of the Indian he tracked his foe, who 
had scarcely arrived at his castle when the unerring arrow transfixed his 
heart. 

This has been called a stain on the Swiss revolution, as it was an unneces- 
sary deed, and committed more to avenge a private wrong than to achieve 
freedom for the people. Yet no one believes an instant that an indignity, 
which was merely personal, could have received this punishment. The 
whole land was groaning under a sense of insulted and outraged honour, and 



APPENDIX. 413 

this last act had shown them that they had nothing to hope from obedience 
and the most abject submission. The only reproval Tell received from his 
compatriots was, that they feared he had frustrated their plans. And what- 
ever the cool judgment may say, the heart involuntary approves. No tyrant 
has been more thoroughly execrated, and no hero more applauded. 



II. 



When the emperor heard of the banishment of his agents, and the destruc- 
tion of their castles, he prepared immediately to punish the insurgents, and 
marched towards Switzerland with a powerful army. But scarcely on its 
borders, he was defeated by a traitor in his own ranks. 

His nephew, instigated by private wrongs, with the aid of two or three 
accomplices allured him across the river, which would separate him from his 
camp and place him beyond the reach of aid, and there struck the deadly 
blow which branded him through all time as the midnight assassin. Almost . 
beneath the walls of his own castle the proud emperor was left to die alone. 
But a peasant girl passing by, soothed his last moments, and carried the in- 
telligence, without knowing his rank, to the castle. 

The murderer escaped, but a thousand innocent persons became the victims 
'Of the haughty queen's revenge, which she afterwards repented, and spent 
fifty years in a convent, endowed by their confiscated estates, in prayers and 
fastings to atone for her crimes. 

Several of the immediate successors of Albert continued to the Forest Canton 
their privileges, preferring to retain them as friends rather than convert them 
into foes. But at length the family of Hapsburg determined to renew their 
pretensions, and the next two centuries present us only a continued series of 
battles and skirmishes between the princes of this house and the Swiss 
mountaineers. 

Western Switzerland was not involved in this struggle, their position and 
interests uniting them with France, Burgundy, and Savoy. From the time 
of the oath in Griitli, and the revolution of the Forest Cantons, Switzerland 
is divided, till the Reformation gives them again a common cause. 

At Morgarten, in the Canton Zug, 6th December, 1315, was fought the first 
battle that acquired for the Swiss a name which attracted the attention of 
Europe to their affairs. Here they showed that they were not mere wild 
rebels of the mountains, but brave in war as wise in council, and no con- 
temptible opponents for the disciplined corps of princes. A few days after 
this victory they renewed the solemn oath of Griitli^ meeting at Brunnen, for 
this purpose, and assuming the appellation of -EidgcTzossen— confederates — 
leagued by the same oath. 

They had eight years before expelled the Austrian bailifis, but without re- 



414: THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

sistance. Now they had baptized their cause with blood. Thirteen hundred 
shepherds, who had never seen a battle, gained a victory over twenty thou- 
sand armed men, commanded by king and nobles. Their renown filled the 
land, and the three little cantons became the centre around wliich rallied in a 
few years the remaining states of the Confederacy. Lucerne joined them in 
1332, Zurich in 1351, Glarus and Zug in 1352, and Berne in 1353. 

Henceforth they are the eight cantons, and instead of Helvetians we find 
them adopting the name and escutcheon of the little canton whose heroes 
had so distinguished themselves in the battles and councils of the republic ; 
whether by definite agreement or common consent is not known, though it 
seems a pity that the Federal arms should not have been characteristic and 
significant. 

The Swiss Confederation, as we have seen, did not begin, as in Germany, by 
the union cities. The first efforts for freedom were by shepherds and agri- 
culturists. The cities which had received charters and privileges, remained 
long indifferent to the brave Forest Cantons, and not till they were joined by 
Lucerne, thought of granting them either aid or encouragement. 

As commerce and industry increased, the bourgeois gained influence, and 
an aristocracy of wealth took the place of the old one of birth and blood. 
These, as in ancient Koms, formed tha patriciat, and by degrees through as- 
sociations, acquired an influence in public affairs. Thus we see a constant 
antagonism between the noblesse and the communes in all the Zaringen cities, 
among which Berne was always conspicuous. It is curious to observe the 
wrestlings and never wearying struggles of the people against their op- 
pressors, the princes of Hapsburg, who had the nobility always on their 
side ; yet during all these two centuries the people were, with scarcely an 
exception in small or in large expeditions, victorious. On one occasion, a 
Bernese noble made the impious exclamation, " that God must have turned 
burgher.^' 

The battle of Lauffen, in 1337, which the people of Berne fought against 
the noblesse of Western Switzerland, increased their self-reliance, and" gave 
them a consequence which admitted them to the Confederacy. But Lucerne 
had been long a member before her sons were called to martyrdom, and the 
name of Sempach enrolled beside that of Morgarten. Seventy-one years after 
Leopold of Austria led his army into Helvetia, his son experienced a defeat 
as inglorious, in the same unworthy cause. Here the King, six hundred 
nobles, and two thousand soldiers fell before an army which at the beginning 
was not fourteen hundred strong. Every battle is commemorated by a chapel 
with rude paintings upoh its walls. On those of Sempach appears con- 
spicuous Arnold of fVinkelried, from Unterwald, who seeing they were in 
danger of being overcome, and wishing to inspire them with fresh courage, 
exclaimed, " Protect my wife and children ; I go to open a path to freedom," 
and rushing forward gathered in his arms as many lances as he could grasp, 
and plunged them in his bosom. As they bore him from the field, they asked 
him if he had no message to his friends. "None," was his remarkable 
answer, "but say to the people, never allow a bailiff" to remain in office 
more than one year." This was in 1386, about five hundred years ago, 



APPENDIX. 415 

and a striking testimony to the corrupting influence of power, and the 
necessity for a free people who would retain their liberty, to change often 
their rulers ! 

One after the other every canton becomes the theatre of battle, and sees 
some little spot bathed in the blood of her martyrs. But, alas, when we have 
recorded one more, the pure spirit which pervaded their councils and inspired 
their courage is dimmed. Success and power have not been without their 
influence on them. The rigid respect for the rights of others, which has 
hitherto characterized their victories, is mingled with a love of conquest and 
a wish to exhibit their bravery, whether it be in a good or an evil cause. 

The battle of Naefles, in Glarus, 1389, is the last of those conducted purely 
on defensive principles, in which their glory was without a shadow. With 
this terminated their fear of Austria ; their liberties were consolidated, and 
the noblesse began to respect and court the alliance of the bourgeois. 

Yet in other parts of Switzerland were enacted nearly the same scenes, as 
they threw off the yoke of the nobles and emancipated themselves from 
feudal despotism. 

So early as 1378 the Suabian cities had formed a league with Constance, the 
city of the lake, and the bourgeois of St. Gall had been permitted to unite 
with them. Appenzell prayed for the privilege of placing herself under the 
same protection, and was denied, because they feared their strength would 
hot be equal to the opposition they should experience. She then appealed 
to the confederate c^tons, and on deliberating upon it in their assemblies, 
only three were in favour of receiving her. But Schwyiz would not consent 
to refuse to others what they had so gladly accepted for themselves ; and 
offered to form with her a partial league, giving her all the aid in their power. 
Thus strengthened, they broke out into open revolt, resisting the nobles and 
destroying the castles on their own territory, and marching their armies 
across the Rhine, till even Austria trembled at their approach. In one cam- 
paign they devastated twelve cities and sixty-four castles, freeing themselves 
entirely from a foreign yoke. The indignities which they experienced were 
the same in character as those inflicted upon the people of every country 
subjected to feudal authority. Their bailiffs were the same coarse, vcilgar 
boors, as we have seen in the Forest Cantons. 

Upon one of the mountains of Schwandi, a castle was tenanted by an"agent 
appointed by the abbey of St. Gall. He liked to sit in his tower and look 
down upon the lovely valley, and watch the people at their toil, the subjects 
over whom he possessed absolute power. But a little boy, who passed every 
day on his way to the Alps, attracted his special attention. His father lived in 
the Rachentobel, and was a miller and baker, with a large family to support. 
The little boy brought milk and whey from the pastures. One day as he 
passed, the nobleman called to him, and said, "What is your father, and 
what does your mother?" " My father bakes unpaid bread, and my mother 
mends old clothes.'' " Why do they do this ?" "Because you take all the 
money !" On hearing this the bailiff thi-eatened to set his dog on him. 

The little boy ran home and related his adventure, and the father told him 
next time he went to the mountain to put a cat in his pail. No sooner did 



416 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

tlie nobleman see him coming on the following- day than he called out, "Now, 
you jackanapes, can you tell whether a magpie has more black feathers or 
white?" "More black." "Why?" "Because the devil has more to do 
with tyrants than with angels." Immediately the dog was set loose, but the 
same instant out jumped the cat, and, as was very natural, the fight was 
between the animals, whilst the boy ran laughing home. The nobleman had 
him brought back by force, and thrust his spear into his side, telling him to 
be careful in future of his tongue. The miller related the event to his neigh- 
bours, and they gathered together from all the hills and attacked the castle. 
Its possessor, having no power to resist, fled to a neighbouring mountain ; 
and when he looked back, saw his proud fortress in flames. The men of 
Schwandi have been ever peculiarly honoured; for though this was the 
beginning, they did not stop till every stronghold of these hated tyrants had 
met a similar fate. 

In the Orisons, now denominated Graubiinden, the work was more fearful 
still, because the feudal lords were almost as the trees of the forest for multi- 
tude. The ruins of more than one hundred and sixty castles may still be 
counted upon their mountains ; and not till a century after the men of GruUi 
had become free from all feudal tyranny did the people of the Orisons begin 
their struggles. They, too, were at fir.-^t exasperated by the same insults. A 
beautiful peasant girl in the valley of the Engadine attracted the admiration 
of the Lord of Gardaval. He had watched her as she went on some house- 
hold commission from her village of Comogask, and went forth to meet her. 
She promised to return to him if he allowed her to go home first and apprise 
her father, who would be anxious at her absence. Thinking it safer to trust 
her, he extracted a formal oath, and she hastened home. The father said, 
"You have promised, and must keep your word; but I will go with you." 
He communicated his purpose to a few trusty friends, and the daughter 
arrayed herself in bridal attire to meet her lover. When they were near 
the appointed rendezvous the father concealed himself in a thicket, and the 
fair maiden went on, and was greeted with a joy the greater because of the 
partial distrust in spite of her promise. But in another instant the father 
had plunged a dagger in his heart, and at a given signal his companions 
appeared and destroyed the castle. 

John Chalder has been called the GiHson Tell, and the bailiff to whom he 
owed allegiance another Gessler. He saw one day the horses of Lis master 
turned to feed in his corn, and killed them on the spot, for which he suffered 
a long and gloomy imprisonment. The dungeons of those days are described 
elsewhere. One almost wonders how the people could be betrayed into any 
crime that should doom them to live within their dark and narrow walls. One 
day after Chalder was released he saw the bailiff passing his house whilst they 
were at dinner ; and wishing to atone for his former rashness, he invited him 
politely to partake of their meal. Upon which this polished nobleman " spit 
in the soup," thinking the dungeon had tamed its victim to unresisting meek- 
ness. Quick as thought, the peasant grasped him by the throat, and plunged 
his head into the steaming dish, saying, "Now eat the soup you have sea- 
soned." The universalwarwhichfollowed left few lords or castles in their midst- 



APPENDIX. 417 

At every step is some memorial of these struggles, some monument of these 
victories, some festival to keep the deeds of their fathers in remembrance. 
They are related still around the fireside, and become famihar to every child 
before he leaves the parental roof, though they may not know that they are 
recorded in a single book. 

Bat they had been so long in the field, that war had become a passion ; and 
when no linger obliged to defend their legitimate soil, they became the ag- 
gressors. The castles of Hapsburg and their broad domains in Aargau and 
Thurgovie they determined to add to their possession, and coveted also the 
inheritance of other princes lying on their borders. They were not less suc- 
cessful in conquering than in defending, and soon became enriched by large 
additions to their territory. But they did not give to the conquered people 
the rights which their fathers had bought "with so much treasure and so 
much blood." They were treated as subjects, and not allowed to choose 
their own bailiffs; the privilege which they had considered so precious, and 
for which they had sacrificed so much. 

In these conflicts they became'embroiled with each other, and rival princes 
enlisted Swiss against Swiss. The Reformation commenced, and popes, and 
cardinals, and clergy added their quarrels to those of kings, nobles, and sol- 
diers. It was during the session of the great council at Basle, that occurred 
the most famous of all their battles. They were at war with Germany, and 
France was the ally of the Emperor. The Dauphin, afterwards Louis XI., 
came with an army of thirty thousand men to aid the Emperor, and with the 
hope of throwing consternation into the council, in revenge for their having 
deposed Pope Eugene. The Swiss in their haste could assemble only fourteen 
hundred men. They met just outside the walls, and the battle lasted ten hours. 
The French remained masters, because the Swiss resigned it with their death, 
only ten being left to tell the story. It was considered disgraceful that they 
did not die, and they were not permitted to return into the cantons. This 
was the battle of St. Jacob, 1447, and they call it the Thermopylae of their 
history. 

It was their bravery on this occasion which led Louis to say, it was better 
to have such a people for friends than enemies, and to propose, instead of 
protracting the war, that they should become his allies. This was the date 
and origin of that long period of "foreign service " which has been so repre- 
hended, so misrepresented by their enemies, so regretted by themselves, and 
only this year come to an end. Whilst we write, it is announced that the 
regiments which are in Naples, and which have been long the only ones re- 
maining in the pay of a foreign prince, are returning home ; and the Govern- 
ment has passed a law, that whoever again enlists as a soldier under any but 
his own country's flag, loses his citizenship, and is henceforth an outlaw. 
They have long endeavoured to bring about this result, but like many another 
evil, it was easy to plant it, but very difficult to root it out. In the day of its 
beginning, war was the one glorious occupation for men of all ranks, and 
labour a degradation. Those who could not engage in agriculture had no 
other resource, and they saw that, by becoming the ally of France, they 
should secure protection against their increasing foes, and avert evil from 

18* 



418 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

their country. It was not tlie custom then to look forvrard to results, and 
there was yet for centuries no united, harmoniously-acting Government to 
control the people. What was attempted by one canton was resisted by 
another, and the emisaries of every despot in Europe were constantly in- 
triguing in their councils. 

Later, when there, was a little respite from war, young men en]isted for a 
series of from four to five or six years, as a means of gaining a little money 
to render their homes more comfortable. Being allowed to visit their friends 
every year, a communication was kept up, and the love of their country kept 
bright. Austria, at one time, paid the Canton Graubiinden one thousand 
dollars a year to preserve peace with the Tyrol. Francis I. paid during his 
reign more than three millions of dollars to Switzerland for soldiers. Louis 
Xin. paid them a million and a half of dollars, and from 1474 to 1774 
they received fifteen hundred millions from Prance. In the course of this 
period eight hundred thousand men fought in the battles of French kings, and 
six hundred thousand were slain. One of the ministers of Louis XIV., who 
disapproved of employing the Swiss, said to him, "Sire, with the thalers 
which have been paid to the Swiss, a high-road might be paved from Paris to 
Basle." Marshal Stuppa, from Graubiinden, being present, replied, " Yes, 
and if the blood which has been shed for France by Swiss were poured into a 
channel, Ave might sail in ships from Paris to Basle." 

"Point d'argent, point de Suisse" (No money, no Swiss), has been 
repeated for centuries to their reproach. We saw in one of their journals 
this summer an explanation to their honour, and one which seems quite as 
probable. When the Duke of Sforza said to the captain of a Swiss regiment, 
after a victory, "Help yourselves like knights, for I have no money," the 
answer was, " This we cannot do ; where there is no money there can be no 
Swiss," meaning that they could not serve without honourable reward, as 
plunder was not to their taste and not their custom — a scruple which it is 
well known few knights of the same period were wont to entertain. 

Under the several governments which they have served, the Swiss attained 
to the highest military honours. They have furnished marshals and generals 
to Austria, France, and Holland, to Spain, Portugal, and Italy ; and on ac- 
count of tlie fidelity wl^iich never swerved when they had sworn allegiance, 
they were ever entrusted Avith the most important and honourable posts. 
Who has not shed a tear over the fate of the noble phalanx which Napoleon 
kept as his choicest reserve at the battle of Waterloo, and who has not 
regretted that when he ordered them up as a forlorn hope he did not place 
himself at their head ! He would have died gloriously, had he fallen where 
they fell ! 

Still we must record it against them, that when America, struggling for 
liberty, appealed to them for aid, they refused ; and though we find in their 
chronicle a reason which they deemed sufficient, to us it seems but a vain 
excuse. It would have made a bright page in their history had they stood 
side by side with the heroes of Bunker's Hill, Monmouth, and Saratoga. 

By allying themselves with France they incurred the enmity of the Burgun- 
dian princes ; and Charles the Bold, to avenge this alliance, invaded their 



APPENDIX. 



419 



country, and gave them an opportunity again to display their valour on 
Swiss soil. In those wars their military renown reached the highest point, 
and then ended the heroic period of their history. 

The battles of Grandson and Moral have no rivals in any country, among 
any people; but one of their own historians says, " This glory was dearly 
bought, for venality and corruption among their chiefs and counsellors were 
its attendanls. The people had fought, but the rulers had profited." The 
Swiss had a beautiful custom of kneeling in silent prayer on the battlefield. 
And it was in this position that they were surprised on the plain of Grandson, 
it being taken for one of submission ; but it enabled them to use their lances 
to greater effect among the cavalry of their enemies, and evidently gained 
them the victory. At Morat, a town not far from Berne, a linden-tree was 
their council-house, which is still standing, and now with its spreading 
branches might shelter an army instead of its chiefs. 

BjTon and Cooper have made these spots familiar to all English readers, 
and the costly hangings of the Burgundian camp, and the gold and diamonds 
of their princes, are still present among other curious relics of the sacristy 
of the cathedral of Berne. They are among the most beautiful specimens 
of the costume and manufactures of those days. Money and jewels were 
poured into the hands of the Swiss soldiers, for the duke fled almost alone 
over the mountains, leaving his wealth to the victors. 

It was after these battles that the diplomats of every country came with 
their gold and their flatteries to secure the little republic as their ally. 
There were not wanting good men and true, who had protested against sell- 
ing themselves in any way to become the servants of princes ; but bad men 
had gained the ascendency, and held the reins of government. 

Nicholas von Flue, is the name of one of those patriots who appeared a 
burning and shining light in the midst of the corruption of those evil times, 
and standing up boldly and earnestly to speak in their councils, prevailed 
against the machinations which had nearly dissolved the Confederacy. 

December 22d, 1481, a new treaty was formed at Stanz, in Unterwald, for 
the purpose of better regulating their internal affairs, that civil dissensions 
might not make them a reproach and by-word among the nations ; and the 
same day Friburg and Soleure were admitted to their union, but not to the 
full privileges of their government. 

Still each canton had the power to cail a diet, which made them of almost 
ridiculous frequency and insignificant importance. One attracts our particu- 
lar attention. It took place in 1492, in Berne. The year that Columbus with 
his little fleet was groping his way over the yet trackless ocean, to find that 
great unknown world, here was assembled a federal council; but before 
these turbulent political elements had fairly settled into harmony, America 
had become a nation, with her diplomats in every court of Europe, her ves- 
sels on every sea, and her flag fluttering on every breeze. 

This diet was to deliberate upon the Austrian and French alliance ; and we 
find a little spark of that fearless spirit, which had never been quite extin- 
guished, in the answer of the then Secretary of State, when the Bishop of 
Mayence exclaimed, " Give your support to Austria, or by this pen I hold 



420 THE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

you will be made to do it." The reply was, "Others have attempted to force 
us with halberds, which proved as poAverlessasyour goosequill." The Empe- 
ror Maximilian I. attempted to win them by flattery, and when this did not 
succeed, to conquer them again by force, attacking them simultaneously on 
all the frontiers of the north and east. But being everywhere repulsed, and 
finally beaten at Dornach, they retired forever with their unjust pretensions. 

Three more cantons were now admitted to the Confederacy, Basle, Schaflf- 
hausen, and Appenzell, making the whole number thirteen ; though the eight 
original cantons still preserved to themselves some exclusive rights. 

With this period begins the Reformation, the events of which are too fa- 
miliar to need more than an allusion. Zwinglius and Calvin, (Ecolampadius 
and Forel, where the great Swiss reformers ; and the strife of parties was in 
this not less bitter, and the religious wars not less devastating, than those of 
conquest and ambition. 

In the works of their authors, we find curious remarks concerning the 
different characters of the good men who were conspicuous in these struggles. 

Zwinglius, they say, was a man of the world, and had learned what human 
passions were by mingling with men in all the relations of life. When curate 
at Glarus, he went with his parishioners to Italy, and stood by their side in 
two successful battles. Though not less good and noble himself, he was 
not so censorious and exacting as some of his compeers. 

Luther had lived all his life the tenant of a cell, and knew nothing of the 
world; his judgment was formed from the abstract idea of things, a meta- 
physical conclusion without comparison. When Zwinglius attempted ta 
arouse the pride and love of country of the people by patriotic appeals, 
Luther condemned him, saying the preaching of the Word was suflScient ; a 
sermon was better than the sword ; and whilst he was drinking his beer 
with his companions, he felt that the truth he had set forth was at work in 
the hearts of the people. 

Calvin said Luther had been spoiled by flattery, and the people thought he 
(Calvin) was too speculative, and not sufficiently republican. The doctrine 
of election was not a democratic doctrine^ and they could not listen to it ! 

Here Western Switzerland appears again in the drama, and the wars be- 
tween Catholic and Protestant deluge the land with blood. It was in one of 
those that Zwinglius fell, having accompanied the Zurich regiments as their 
chaplain. His body was burnt with barbarous inhumanity by the fanatic 
soldiers. Yet these very fanatics were the sons of the noble men of the 
Forest Cantons, and for a whole century we see those who should have been 
brethren, thus opposed in deadly strife, each fighting for what he believed to 
be his country and his God. Alas, what crimes to be committed in the name 
of the Prince of Peace ! 

But when these struggles Avere ended, there followed a long peace in the 
cantons, the longest they had ever known ; and now we see them continually 
ruffled by little feuds concerning rights and privileges. The Forest Cantons 
were always jealous of the cities, and feared the consolidation of power. 

Zurich, seeing a tendency in the Government to concentrate and form an 
aristocracy of birth, assembled her citizens to the number of six hundred, 



APPENDIX. 421 

aud demanded lier rights at the point of the bayonet. They were granted 
without hesitation before the sword was unsheathed. 

In Basle it was an aristocracy of wealth which threatened ; in Berne, So- 
leure, Friburg, and Lucerne, the ascendency of caste and party. Thus, for 
another half century, we find Switzerland without any of the characteristics 
of a nation ; — the nobles tyrannizing over the citizens, and the cities tyran- 
nizing over the peasants. 

But a brighter day is dawning, and in the midst of all this evil there is 
much good. Industry flourishes in the country, and in the cities art and 
learning have awoke from their slumbers. The press is free, and opinion 
untrammelled. 

The next period is one of philosophy and thought. "We see stormy debates 
in their councils ; but there is a grandeur in their motives. If the aristocratic 
majority prevails, the influence of the stormy minority is always good. In 
the convulsions of their government we behold the ti-avail of thought and 
the springs of action. There were then, as now, old fogies, who mourned 
the " good old times," and opposed all innovation ; but the liberal and the 
progressive obliged them to yield. 

The democratic tendencies of the writings of Rousseau and Voltaire aroused 
the elements of another party strife, and the aid of Louis XV. was invoked 
by the aristocrats to crush the fruitful germ of democracy ere it had taken 
root. He sent an army to surround Geneva. In a council, one of his 
generals said to a deputy from Zurich, " Do you know that I am the repre- 
^sentative of the king, my master ?" " And do you know," replied the fear- 
less Zurich deputy, " that we are the representatives of our equals ?'' 

In Neuchatel they had a dispute with Frederick of Prussia about imposts ; 
in Lucerne a quarrel about succession ; and, in 1770, still another revolution 
in Geneva about naturalization ; but all were the throes of Liberty in the va- 
rious stages of her development. 

Order had in some measure settled herself in the land, and plenty began to 
crown the labours of the husbandman and artisan, when the French revolu- 
tion swept like a whirlwind over Europe. Switzerland prayed to remain 
neutral, but kings and emperors had not forgotten the bravery of her sons ; 
and the peasantry, in the midst of their rural toils, remembered at the first 
sound of the tambour that they were warriors. Again their soil was drenched 
with human blood, their government shattered, and their free institutions 
overthrown. These little republics, which seemed scarcely able to support 
themselves, were taxed and despoiled to the amount of more than twelve 
millions of dollars in money alone. 

But Napoleon had the discernment to see that they could never be retained 
as a province of France, and offered a partial restoration of the old order of 
things. He sent for deputies to meet at Paris from all the cantons, and 
listening respectfully to their opinions, and as respectfully expressing hia 
own, they formed a new government, which secured them ten years of peace, 
and is known as the period of mediation. Six new cantons were added, mak- 
ing now nineteen, and all on an equaUty, which they had never granted to 
each other. The administration of internal affairs was left to themselves, and 



422 TOE COTTAGES OF THE ALPS. 

their president of their own choosing. In return they were to furnish Napo- 
leon twelve thousand men. His overthrow placed them again at the mercy 
of the allies. But their experience had not been without its use. They had 
learned that "union is strength." We see them in future more willing to 
sacrifice personal and cantonal interest to the good of the whole. 

Geneva, Neuchatel, and Valais, who had long been allies, were incorpo- 
rated into the Confederation, making the number twenty-two ; and the old 
treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, was renewed with many improve- 
ments. Each canton was sovereign in its own affairs, and subjects existed no 
more on Swiss territory. 

The general government was called a Diet, and consisted of deputies from 
each canton. Still there existed privileges which kept a portion of the peo- 
ple restless, and in two or three cantons caused a division. In Basle the 
country separated from the city ; the great ground of complaint being the 
inequality of representation in the general assembly. The Canton Appenzell 
was already Outer and Inner Khoden ; the one being Catholic and the other 
Protestant. Discontents in many others led to the subject of a revision of 
all their constitutions. 

During all the years from 1815 to 1848, we see them in constant ferment, 
which had in more than one canton broken out into civil war, and as yet the 
federal authority was not sufiBciently strong to quell these petty disturbances. 

In 1847, took place the famous war of the Sonderbund, in consequence of 
the suppression of many convents, and the banishment of the Jesuits. The 
influence of the priesthood in the little cantons where the Catholics were a^ 
majority was a continual hindrance to progress in what concerned the gene- 
ral good. The equal distribution of rights and privileges affected their posi- 
tion and revenues, and they opposed with all their strength the supremacy 
of federal power. 

The year 1848 saw the final triumph of general over individual interests. A 
grand Diet assembled at Berne, all the cantons being fully represented. The 
degree of federal authority was still the bone of contention. What should be 
the title of the President, the extent of his power, whether there should be 
one chamber or two, and the principle of representation, kept them in stormy 
discussion many weeks. At length, one hundred and one cannon booming 
from the neighbouring heights announced the completion of their work. The 
large majority of fifteen cantons had united for the adoption of the federal 
constitution, and chosen Berne to be the seat of the Federal Government. 
For the detail of their enactments we have no space, but to all who doubt the 
power of a people to govern themselves, we commend their constitution ; and 
those who think it possible to grant too much freedom to a people, may com- 
pare the statistics of law and order in any part of Switzerland with those of 
the countries which surround them. 

The great marvel is, how through all these convulsions they have preserved 
their existence ; and though we hear it often prophesied, by those in whom 
the thought is a wish rather than a conviction, that they will not remain long 
independent, we believe there are not a hundred men in Switzerland who 
would not stake life and fortune in defence of their country, and their coun- 
try's freedom. 



APK 15 !8a. 



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